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Trump’s Stargate: A $500 Billion AI Megaproject

PLUS: OpenAI's first browser agent will launch this week

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Howdy! It’s Barsee again.

Happy Thursday, AI family, and welcome back to AI Valley.

In today’s edition:

  • Trump announces $500 billion "Stargate" AI project

  • Deepseek: The quiet giant leading China's AI race

  • Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources

Ready, set, go…

STARGATE

💸 Trump Announces $500 Billion "Stargate" AI Project

(Image Source: Reuters)

In a move that could redefine the future of artificial intelligence, President Donald Trump unveiled the launch of "Stargate," a $500 billion joint venture led by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, aiming to position the U.S. as a leader in the global AI race.

Here's what you need to know:

  • The project, described as the largest AI infrastructure investment in history, was announced with key figures from the tech world, including SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

  • Masayoshi Son will lead Stargate as chairman, with SoftBank handling the finances, OpenAI managing operations, and technical support coming from industry giants like Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Arm.

  • Stargate will start with an initial $100 billion investment, eventually reaching $500 billion over four years, with a promise to create over 100,000 American jobs.

  • This massive financial backing will fuel the development of data centers across the U.S. The project has already broken ground in Abilene, Texas, with plans for ten 500,000-square-foot data centers and potential expansion to 20 buildings.

Controversy surrounds the announcement:

Hours after the announcement, Elon Musk publicly criticized the plan on X, questioning the financial stability of OpenAI and SoftBank. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk stated, adding, “SoftBank has well under $10 billion secured.”

Who’s funding Stargate?

Despite Musk’s skepticism, the financial backing for Stargate appears robust.

  • Microsoft: $80 billion pledged

  • SoftBank: $24.3 billion on hand

  • Oracle: $11 billion available

  • MGX (UAE-based investment fund): $100 billion in commitments

In response to Musk’s criticism, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman invited him to visit the construction sites in Texas, emphasizing that work has already begun.

If successful, Stargate could solidify the U.S. as a global leader in AI, but challenges lie ahead. As construction progresses in Texas, the world will be watching to see if this ambitious vision becomes reality.

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SIDE UPDATES

OpenAI is launching "Operator," a new ChatGPT feature for browser control, later this week. Designed to manage tasks like food delivery, event planning, shopping, and travel bookings, it will provide category-specific prompts to assist users. The feature allows real-time task monitoring, saving, and sharing, and works on login-required sites, though Gmail support is reportedly excluded.

Google is updating its Gemini AI assistant for Android with new capabilities. Gemini Live now enables users to interact with images, files, and YouTube videos during conversations. It also introduces extensions for built-in apps like Calendar, Notes, Reminder, and Clock, supporting multi-extension functionality in a single prompt.

Oracle has unveiled a suite of AI agents tailored for sales professionals. Unlike generic assistants, these agents are designed for specific tasks, such as updating company records and tracking deal progress post-meetings. The features are available at no extra cost for users of the new agents.

Samsung is partnering with Google to develop augmented reality (AR) glasses, focusing on a new operating system called Android XR. The platform aims to unify AR devices across brands and boost developer engagement in the AR ecosystem. While no prototypes are available yet, the team is addressing design and production cost challenges.

DEEPSEEK

🤖 Deepseek: The Quiet Giant Leading China's AI Race

(Image Source: TestingCatalog)

China's AI Lab DeepSeek has unveiled its first-generation reasoning models, DeepSeek-R1-Zero and DeepSeek-R1, marking a significant milestone in the global AI race.

Here's what you need to know:

  • Similar to OpenAI’s o1, DeepSeek-R1 takes slightly longer to generate responses, but its outputs are designed to be more sophisticated and accurate. This makes it particularly well-suited for tasks requiring advanced logical reasoning and contextual understanding.

  • DeepSeek-R1 matches or outperforms o1 in critical benchmarks such as AIMEMATH-500, and SWE-bench Verified. Notably, it surpasses 96.3% of human programmers, achieving a Codeforces rating of 2,029.

  • The model boasts 671 billion parameters, but DeepSeek has also introduced six smaller, distilled versions ranging from 1.5 to 70 billion parameters. These compact models can run locally on a laptop, with some performing on par with OpenAI’s o1-mini in coding and math tasks.

  • The model is open-sourced under an MIT license and accessible via the web-based DeepSeek Chat platform.

Why it matters:

As DeepSeek-R1 gains traction, it will be interesting to see how other players in the AI industry respond. Will this spur further advancements in open-source AI, or will proprietary models continue to dominate? One thing is clear: the competition is heating up, and the future of AI is becoming more dynamic and inclusive.

Review: In this video, AI expert and YouTuber Matthew Berman reviews DeepSeek R1.

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THINK PIECES / RESOURCES

CONTENT CORNER

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

That’s all for today’s issue, folks.

💡 Help me get better and suggest new ideas at [email protected] or @heyBarsee

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