Just over half an hour. That’s all it takes for kids to get hooked on TikTok, according to leaked internal documents. Plus, why being nice to chatbots might benefit you, and what’s going on with Sam Altman’s mysterious orb device. Kim also talks to Darius Belejevas, head of Incogni, about how data brokers collect your personal info — even if you never gave it to them.
What you need to know about DeepSeek
© Rokas Tenys | Dreamstime.com, play.google.com
I’ve been saying it for years: The country that masters AI will dominate the world economically, politically and militarily. Since ChatGPT dropped, the U.S. seemed untouchable. Most of us Americans assumed we were a couple of years ahead of China in terms of AI, but the game has changed — and fast.
The latest version of DeepSeek AI, an open-source model out of China, is so good, it tanked U.S. tech stock prices (Nvidia lost $593 billion in value!), shot to No. 1 in the Apple App Store overnight and now has the entire world wondering, “If this is what China is showing us, what’s next?”
Move over, OpenAI
DeepSeek was founded in May 2023 in Zhejiang, China. Its first models were nothing to write home about; the latest release, DeepSeek-V3, is another story.
It was developed in just 55 days, trained on 671 billion parameters and performs as well as (or better than) Meta’s Llama, OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5 in math, coding and reasoning. Let that sink in. It took China just two months to beat the American giants.
The money is where it gets really interesting. OpenAI spent $5 billion on its model in just one year. Google shelled out $50 billion on AI development in 2024. Microsoft has invested $13 billion into AI partnerships.
What about DeepSeek? They spent $5.6 million. It’s a cheap Chinese knockoff.
How’d they do it?
China put together a group of young, ambitious, super-smart engineers and researchers who worked under strict limitations. The official story is they couldn’t use Nvidia’s top-tier H100 chips because of U.S. export restrictions. Instead, they worked with less powerful H800 chips.
Rumors suggest China started with over 10,000 super-powered H100 Nvidia AI chips purchased before the Biden administration’s sanctions kicked in. There are also whispers they stole OpenAI’s code as the foundation for DeepSeek-V3.
But here’s the thing: Even if they took someone else’s code, it doesn’t matter anymore. DeepSeek runs efficiently on far fewer chips, uses less electricity and is cheaper to operate than its American counterparts.
The real game-changer is right here
Why I used Incogni to wipe my info off the internet
I got this note the other day from Mike S. (Hi, Mike! 👋): “Next time you talk about Incogni, maybe you can do a deep dive?”
Mike, you’re not the only reader who’s asked for a more in-depth look at how Incogni works and why I chose it to wipe my info from data broker sites. I picked this service before they became a sponsor. So, without further ado …
Shortcut to reading annoying privacy policies
© Fairoesh N. | Dreamstime.com
Tech privacy policies are confusing on purpose. I know, big shocker! But I’m always surprised by just how difficult these things are to comb through and what they hide.
Today, I’m calling out the biggest offenders — and sharing one of my favorite, easy-to-use privacy tools.
How to remove personal data from data-broker sites (Spoiler: I use Incogni)
© Eduard Goricev | Dreamstime.com, © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com
I’ll never forget when my son, Ian, asked me where in Los Angeles I lived. I told him I couldn’t remember — it was 30 years ago, and I lived there for maybe six months. A few minutes later, he called and had the address. It was available for free to anyone on the internet on an online people search directory.
Data brokers are selling your life. Here’s how to stop them.
© Dark1elf | Dreamstime.com
The data broker industry is worth almost $400 billion. Whether it’s your Google Search history, movies you’ve streamed or a summary of your last doctor’s visit, they’re keeping tabs on your life.
Feel violated? You should. These brokers even sell your data to scammers so they can use it to target you. No wonder most people get overloaded with spam texts and calls every day.
Your driving apps are spying on you
Apps like MyRadar and GasBuddy are sharing your driving data with data brokers. Find out exactly what they’re reporting.
Your data: It’s all posted online - But there's a simple way to remove it
© Sitthiphong Thadakun | Dreamstime.com
A loyal reader, Racquel, emailed me recently after dealing with a very angry customer at work. “Last week, she left me a voicemail and said that I was behind all her problems and she was ‘going to find’ where I lived.”
Best ways to block scam calls - And an easier way to stop scammers
© Dmitrii Melnikov | Dreamstime.com
When it comes to telemarketing and scam calls, the best thing to do is not pick up the phone. But it’s not always easy to tell whether an incoming call is legitimate — especially if your phone doesn’t show that scam or spam warning.
Free app to quickly remove your pics and posts on Facebook, Twitter and more
© Robert Kneschke | Dreamstime.com
Kim couldn’t tell you how many messages and emails she has gotten over the years asking the same question: “How can I delete myself from the internet?” Sadly, you can’t. Not really. There’s just too much out there.