OpenAI’s counter-attack on China’s DeepSeek is … just … sad. Faced with a competitor whose product costs 95% less, the company yelled, “No fair! You copied us!”
The ChatGPT parent said DeepSeek used a process called “distillation,” which involves having a smaller A.I. model learn from the output of a larger one to optimize functionality.
Everyone not getting an OpenAI paycheck saw the irony.
“Hmm. Vacuuming up someone else’s work! What’s that saying? Karma’s a…well, you know. And if you don’t, GPT-4 can easily complete that sentence,” Joanna Stern wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
What makes OpenAI’s complaint even sadder is that distillation is SOP in the world of AI.
“The vast majority of LLM insights and breakthroughs are ‘borrowed’. A community of glass houses,” Bill Gurley, the venture capitalist, wrote on X.
???? Yes. Or YouTube transcripts. Oh yeah, the core algorithm everyone uses was developed at DeepMind. No one disputes that. The vast majority of LLM insights and breakthroughs are “borrowed”. A community of glass houses.
— Bill Gurley (@bgurley) January 29, 2025
Now, this week’s AI-powered martech releases and news.
- Acquia partnered with SearchStax to enhance search functionality for Drupal-based websites with AI-driven capabilities. This collaboration replaces Acquia’s existing Solr site search service with Acquia Search powered by SearchStax.
- USIM joined with IRIS.TV to integrate the IRIS_ID content identifier into its programmatic division, Quantum11, enhancing CTV campaign targeting and measurement. This partnership enables AI-powered video analysis for contextual and emotional targeting, greater transparency in media quality, and improved audience reach while ensuring brand safety.
- Gennova introduced an AI-powered platform to automate social media content creation and management. The platform generates industry-specific posts, aligns them with a brand’s tone and visual identity, and automates scheduling for consistency. Users can also customize generated content to balance automation with personalization.
- LocaliQ launched Dash by LocaliQ, an AI-driven lead management SaaS platform. Dash streamlines lead conversion with AI agents, automation tools, and data-driven reporting, helping businesses optimize customer interactions.
- aiCMO released an AI-powered marketing solution designed to enhance brand communication through strategic messaging and automation. The platform includes tools for empathy-driven campaign creation, purpose-led messaging, and AI-powered insights.
- Brightcove launched its AI Content Suite, which offers tools to optimize video content creation and engagement. The suite enables automatic conversion of long-form videos into short clips, adapts horizontal content for vertical viewing, and improves discoverability with auto-generated metadata.
- ServQuik announced the general availability of its AI-powered customer service automation platform. The ServQuik CSR Agent enables businesses to automate lead engagement and customer interactions, providing AI-driven support to handle inquiries from customers and prospects.
- EqualAI introduced an initiative to expand AI literacy across industries and communities. The program includes a centralized educational hub with reliable AI resources, stakeholder engagement efforts to foster collaboration, and expanded workshops and events to educate policymakers, educators, and industry leaders on responsible AI use.
About the author
Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.
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