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This Week in AI — 🆕 What is DeepSeek?
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This Week in AI — 🆕 What is DeepSeek?

January 28, 2025 | By: Dave Isaac

Each week we’ll gather headlines and tips to keep you current with how generative AI affects PR and the world at large. If you have ideas on how to improve the newsletter, let us know!

What You Should Know

 

What to Make of DeepSeek, the Chinese AI Company Skyrocketing on Download Charts

Monday morning, a new AI contender burst into headlines, topped Apple’s App Store, and spurred a $1 trillion sell-off of AI stocks on Wall Street. 

All the attention was on DeepSeek, a Chinese startup founded in 2023. Last week, the company released its R1 model, which has now bested models from OpenAI and Anthropic on AI leaderboards, and is reportedly “20 to 50 times cheaper to use than OpenAI’s o1 model, depending on the task.” It even drew praise from Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO.

While this news paves the way for cheaper and more ubiquitous AI, be careful about rushing to use these new tools. One key difference between DeepSeek and U.S. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini is that DeepSeek doesn’t offer data privacy. 

For that reason alone, DeepSeek may not be a viable option for many businesses, depending on their AI policies and their comfort level sharing information with a tool that is openly gobbling up data. There’s also a significant potential bias at play — DeepSeek reportedly “self-censors on topics deemed sensitive in China.”

If you’re running to the newest hot tool to get better AI results, first reevaluate how you’re using the AI tools you already have. Can you get more out of them by changing the way you use or prompt them? While other shiny new options will undoubtedly emerge this year, the priority should be choosing tools that best align with your goals and needs. 

Still, DeepSeek’s quick rise highlights how dynamic the AI race has become and may have unlocked a new trend. A wave of cheaper, more powerful AI tools could be on the horizon. 

Elsewhere …

Tips and Tricks

💬 How to get better press release quotes

What’s happening: AI tools can help knock out press releases in no time. If you provide enough context about the “news” and its effect on customers, partners, and the industry, an AI tool can pretty reliably include all the elements of a solid press release. However, the quotes often leave a lot to be desired.

Why it matters: Oftentimes, reporters don’t have time to connect with an expert right away because they want to get their stories up quickly, and they’ll use a quote from a press release to add color. You want that quote to stand out and, well, many don’t. In 2023, nearly 20,000 press releases included “thrilled” in the quote. That “we’re thrilled” sentence is totally unnecessary because it adds nothing to the story. We know you’re excited — that’s why you’re publishing a press release to announce your news to the world.

Try this: As part of your instructions, tell your AI tool of choice not to use words like “thrilled,” “excited,” or “honored,” and instead focus on the value proposition of the announcement. Say the CEO is being quoted in the release — what is the greater message they want to pass along with the news? Including instructions to “make the quote personal” can further humanize the message and make it closer to something you’d want to see a reporter publish.

Quote of the Week

“In the time it took you to read this guide, a new AI capability probably launched and two others got major upgrades. But don’t let that paralyze you. The secret isn’t waiting for the perfect AI – it’s diving in and discovering what these tools can actually accomplish. Jump in, get your hands dirty, and find what clicks. It will help you understand where AI can help you, where it can’t, and what is coming next.”

— Ethan Mollick, author and Professor of Management at Wharton, in his recent “opinionated guide” to choosing an AI tool

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