Market 'panic' over DeepSeek AI may be 'overblown'

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek has emerged as a potential challenger to Silicon Valley's dominant AI companies, claiming to offer a more affordable alternative to popular chatbots. This announcement triggered a notable sell-off among major tech stocks. Futurum Group CEO Dan Newman and Bernstein managing director and senior analyst Stacy Rasgon share their insights on Morning Brief. Rasgon feels minimally concerned about the situation. He notes, "The models they've built are fantastic, they really are ... but what they're doing is not miraculous either or unknown to any of the other top-tier AI researchers or AI labs that are out there." While recognizing the market's "panic," Rasgon characterizes the stock decline as "overblown," stating, "I don't think DeepSeek is doomsday for AI infrastructure." Newman echoes Rasgon's skepticism, raising questions about the announcement's credibility. "When did we decide that we're going to just believe a paper that comes out of China?" he says. Newman suggests the claims require verification, noting that "it's not unlike China to potentially try and play a little bit of psyops with Americans and the markets to see how we would react." However, Newman also acknowledges that if DeepSeek's claims are "accurate," affordable AI models could benefit the entire sector. "I just think the market's completely missing this one, and the fact that we're believing China just with their word, to me, I think that needs a little more inspection," he adds. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. This post was written by Angel Smith