On Monday, the stock market went into a tizzy over a new AI model from Chinese company DeepSeek. It seemed to be just as powerful as many of its American competitors, but its makers claimed to have made it far more cheaply, using far less computing power than similar AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. In one day, hundreds of billions of dollars were wiped off the valuations of companies related to AI.
This week, investors seemed suddenly to change their minds about what our AI future would look like and which companies will (or won't) profit from it. Will we really need all those high-end computer chips, after all? What about power plants to provide electricity for all the energy-hungry AI data centers?
On today's show – how DeepSeek might have changed the economics of artificial intelligence forever.
This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with an assist from James Sneed. It was edited by Keith Romer and engineered by Neil Tevault. Research help from Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
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State of the World from NPR - Rwandan-Backed Rebels Strengthen Hold in Eastern Congo
Rebel forces continue to claim more Congolese territory coveted for its rich mineral resources. In Myanmar, former leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains jailed and the country is mired in a brutal civil war.
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Consider This from NPR - A pastor’s sermons on social justice causes conflict among congregation
Schools, corporations, even churches, are wrestling with how to approach issues of racial and social justice in a highly polarized U.S. But what happens when people with shared political views disagree on how much is too much? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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Consider This from NPR - A pastor’s sermons on social justice causes conflict among congregation
Schools, corporations, even churches, are wrestling with how to approach issues of racial and social justice in a highly polarized U.S. But what happens when people with shared political views disagree on how much is too much? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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Consider This from NPR - A pastor’s sermons on social justice causes conflict among congregation
Schools, corporations, even churches, are wrestling with how to approach issues of racial and social justice in a highly polarized U.S. But what happens when people with shared political views disagree on how much is too much? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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1A - The News Roundup For January 31, 2025
An American Airlines plane collided with a helicopter on Wednesday in Washington D.C., sending both crashing into the Potomac River. There are no survivors.
Donald Trump ordered a freeze of all federal grants, disrupting vital national processes.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinians are making their way back into the northern parts of Gaza. Israel's ban on working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency goes into effect this week.
A new Chinese AI app, called DeepSeek, has upended the tech industry and Wall Street. Industry watchers note the country's programmers can deliver a product on par with that of the West, for a fraction of the cost and without access to similar hardware.
We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.
Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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Donald Trump ordered a freeze of all federal grants, disrupting vital national processes.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinians are making their way back into the northern parts of Gaza. Israel's ban on working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency goes into effect this week.
A new Chinese AI app, called DeepSeek, has upended the tech industry and Wall Street. Industry watchers note the country's programmers can deliver a product on par with that of the West, for a fraction of the cost and without access to similar hardware.
We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.
Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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Up First from NPR - Plane Crash Latest, German Far Right, Nuclear Testing
Cockpit recordings have been recovered from the jet involved in a collision just outside of Washington, DC, a German far-right party is participating in mainstream politics for the first time since World War Two and researchers are studying nuclear weapons at an underground facility in Nevada.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Denice Rios, Ryland Barton, Gisele Grayson, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Claire Murashima and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Our executive producer is Kelley Dickens.
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Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Denice Rios, Ryland Barton, Gisele Grayson, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Claire Murashima and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Our executive producer is Kelley Dickens.
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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Final Girl Support Group’ and ‘Witchcraft for Wayward Girls’ center women in horror
Grady Hendrix is one of the biggest names in horror fiction today. He's published 11 horror novels and won a Bram Stoker Award for his non-fiction book on the history of horror fiction. In this episode, we revisit a 2021 conversation between Hendrix and former NPR host Audie Cornish about his book Final Girl Support Group with a discussion on society's obsession with violence and its perpetrators, rather than the victims. Then, we hear Hendrix speak with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about his latest novel, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, and some of the real life horrors faced by women in history.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - Running the numbers on deportation, interest rates and math
Why haven't American 8th graders' math scores recovered? Does Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actually have the resources to make all the deportations Trump's promised? And what's the path for interest rates in the Trump economy? All that on Indicators of the Week.
Related Episodes:
The U.S. once banned Chinese immigrants — and it paid an economic price
Why Is The Fed So Boring?
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Related Episodes:
The U.S. once banned Chinese immigrants — and it paid an economic price
Why Is The Fed So Boring?
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Short Wave - 10 Technologies To Watch
In a world brimming with innovation and limited time, it can be hard to tell what technology has the potential to really shift life. Yet, every year, MIT Technology Review undertakes this very task and puts out an annual list to magazine readers of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Today, host Regina G. Barber hops through highlights from the list with Amy Nordrum, an executive editor at the publication.
Check out the full list here.
Another tech topic on your mind that you want us to discuss on an upcoming episode? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!
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Check out the full list here.
Another tech topic on your mind that you want us to discuss on an upcoming episode? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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