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Ever since DeepSeek burst onto the scene last month, theres been no shortage of opinions about what the Chinese startups artificial intelligence accomplishments mean for Americas AI giants like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta. However, there’s one company that’s usually been absent from any discussion of just how bad DeepSeeks arrival is for many of Americas tech giants: Apple. Whenever a tech insider or analyst mentions Apple and DeepSeek together, its usually to suggest that the arrival of the Chinese LLM could be beneficial to the iPhone maker. Is that really the case? AI technology is moving so quickly (DeepSeek virtually appeared out of nowhere) that it seems futile to make long-term predictions about any advancements ultimate impact on the industry, let alone an individual company. Still, I can see a few ways that Apple may benefit from DeepSeek and its successes. Partnering with DeepSeek can give Apple Intelligence a way into China The most direct way that Apple could benefit from DeepSeeks arrival is if the company decided to actually partner with the Chinese startup. Its no secret that Apple badly wants to bring Apple Intelligence to China, as the companys software chief, Craig Federinghi, told me last June when it first previewed its AI platform. China is Apples second-largest market after the US. Apple believes that the addition of Apple Intelligence to its phones represents a unique selling point that will attract new iPhone users and encourage existing ones to upgrade, leading to increased sales. Increasing sales in China is very important to Apple, where its phones have been struggling recently against domestic rivals (the Cupertino company recently saw its China sales drop 11.1% on an annual basis). The problem for Apple is that China has stringent laws surrounding AI systemseven those designed for consumers. Thats why, to meet the countrys legal requirements, Apple might likely partner with an already approved AI provider in China. Indeed, in December, Reuters reported that Apple was in early talks with Tencent and ByteDance about the possibility of integrating their AI models into Apple Intelligence in the country. But now Apple may have a third option: DeepSeek. From both a technological and optical perspective, choosing the small startups LLM for integration with Apple Intelligence in the country could be a wise move. Technologically, integrating DeepSeek into Apple Intelligence on iPhones in China could confer several performance benefits. Two significant advantages of DeepSeek over other LLMs are that it can run on less powerful chips and uses less energy. This makes it perfect for Apples Apple Intelligence platform, which tries to perform as much on-device computing as possible to make things speedier and more private for its users. Partnering with DeepSeek over other AI providers in China may also be excellent optics for Apple from a marketing standpoint, at least locally. Ever since DeepSeek upstaged the much better-funded U.S. tech giants, the small startup has become a point of pride in the nation. Its founder, Liang Wenfeng, even reportedly received a heros welcome when he returned to his hometown of Zhanjiang over the Lunar New Year holiday. If Apple wants to increase sales in China, what better way than by touting that the AI developed by Chinas tech hero is powering Apple Intelligence? AI R&D just got cheaper for Apple Even if Apple doesnt partner directly with DeepSeek, the Chinese startups disruption of the U.S. AI industry seems to offer some indirect advantages for Apple. Before DeepSeeks arrival, general wisdom held that if a company wanted to be competitive in the AI raceto be in it to win itit needed to invest tens of billions of dollars in research and development. After all, thats what OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Google have done. Apple could have thrown the same amount of money into AI development in order to catch up with its U.S. rivalsbut DeepSeeks success shows that the company may not have to do that anymore. DeepSeek says that its model was trained for less than $6 million, a pittance compared to the money OpenAI and Meta, for example, have spent training their models. And DeepSeeks R1 LLM outperforms OpenAIs and Metas models in many areas. If its now known that powerful LLMs that can compete with the heavyweights can be created and trained for just cents on the dollar, Apple no longer needs to consider spending tens of billions to catch up and can direct its massive cash stockpiles elsewhere. Further, DeepSeek claims it took just two months to train its model. If thats the case, then Apple will be able to catch up to its U.S. competitors in no time. Apples position in the AI race So, does DeepSeeks arrival give Apple a leg up in the AI race? When it comes to potentially bringing Apple Intelligence to China and boosting iPhone sales in the country, it very well may. But outside of China, its impossible to say if DeepSeeks arrival will actually materially benefit Apples position in the AI race long-term. DeepSeeks innovations seem to show that you dont need to spend billions of dollars and years training advanced AI models. This revelation doesnt only benefit Apple, however. While Apple now might not have to spend the time and money its US competitors did to create a model on the scale of ChatGPT and Llama, neither do other companies now, which levels the playing field for everyone, big and small. Besides, who knows what other AI breakthroughs are just around the corner? DeepSeek virtually came out of nowhere. Theres no guarantee it wont be upstaged by another groundbreaking AI advancement in the months ahead that disrupts the industry all over again. And because of that, its impossible to say who will be in what place on the future AI leaderboardsno matter if youre talking about Apple, OpenAI, or DeepSeek itself.
Category:
E-Commerce
Saving the planet is so 2024. Clean energy leaders across the globe are now tailoring their messages to emphasize the greener side of green: wealth-building. It’s an idea that sells far better in the new world of nationalism and tycoon leaders. Messaging from the U.S. renewable energy industry and the United Nations on climate change has typically focused on the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of environmental and human health. To bolster the argument, they cite record-shattering heat around the world, the frequent climate disasters costing billions of dollars and the human toll of it all. But a sharper emphasis on profit potential has become evident as President Donald Trump stormed into office with a flurry of rollbacks to clean energy initiatives and an emphatic declaration of plans to unleash oil, gas and mining. In a lobbying blitz in Washington this week, solar, wind, hydropower and other clean-energy interests touted their role in a robust American energy and manufacturing economy and sported lapel pins that said American energy dominance a favorite Trump phrase. Meanwhile, in a major policy speech Thursday in Brazil, the U.N.’s top climate official played up the $2 trillion flowing into clean-energy projects and recalled a friend telling him that appealing to peoples better angels only goes so far. That friend, according to U.N. Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, added: In the great horserace of life … always back self-interest … whats in it for me.’ It’s not that clean energy backers haven’t made the case before. But a different landscape, especially in the U.S., stands to make it more potent. Its a very winning message for outreach to conservatives because its really true, said former U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican who founded the conservative climate group RepublicEN.org. If we play our cards right and lead the world to this, we can create a lot of wealth, create a lot of jobs here in America. Inglis pointed to Elon Musk’s empire-building on electric cars, solar panels and batteries. “When right-of-center people hear, you know, you can you make a profit at this’ then it makes sense. Otherwise, its like, why are people giving stuff away?” Inglis said. Jobs especially have long been a big selling point for solar and wind energy and electric cars, but there’s a push to not think of self-interest as a dirty word and instead to harness it, United Nations officials said. When Stiell mentioned the $2 trillion in his speech for clean energy, he called it “unstoppable because of the colossal scale of economic opportunity it presents. Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer, who is also a professor of international affairs, said climate change is such a difficult problem, “if some people feel the need to cater to narrower self-interests which can be bundled into a solution to the problem, why not? In letters and at more than 100 congressional meetings this week, industry leaders from the Solar Energy Industries Association, Oceantic Network and other organizations appealed to keep crucial tax incentives in place so their projects can be globally competitive. The appeal targets lawmakers who might dismiss climate change but be open to an economic rationale, said Jessie Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, which spearheaded a letter. In the past administration, obviously, we emphasized the common interest around climate mitigation, Stolark said. The messaging with this current administration and with the Republicans is shifting more to that energy piece, the economic piece, the jobs piece. I think you want to meet an audience where they are, whats important to them, whats going to drive the conversation forward. Liz Beardsley, senior policy counsel at the U.S. Green Building Council that was part of the sweeping lobbying effort, said the economy has always been a core component of its messages, and that doing good is also good for business. To Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, messaging that climate efforts were strictly for the planet was actually disingenuous. The honesty and coherence of the business and financial sectors in making the economic case for the transition is refreshing, at least, after years of doublespeak, greenwashing and confusion, Sachs said. Its not a perfect strategy from a climate or social perspective, as the private sector cannot on its own fully decarbonize the economy … But under this administration, its probably our best bet for progress. President Trump may not be reachable, but his Energy and Interior secretaries are and they have power, said Frank Maisano, a longtime Washington spokesman for energy interests from oil and gas to wind and batteries. It’s time for a change, said Joanna Depledge, a climate historian at Cambridge University in England: Banging on about the catastrophic climate crisis is obviously doing no good at all. Seth Borenstein and Alexa St. John, Associated Press Associated Press reporter Tammy Webber contributed to this report. The Associated Presss climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded-coverage areas at AP.org.
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E-Commerce
Ethan Bernstein is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. He spent five years at The Boston Consulting Group and two years in executive positions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Michael Horn is the author of several books, including the award-winning Disrupting Class, Choosing College, Blended, and From Reopen to Reinvent. He is the cofounder of and distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. He also teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and cohosts the higher education podcast Future U. Bob Moesta is the president and founder of the Re-Wired Group, an adjunct lecturer at the Kellog School of Management at Northwestern University, and a research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. Whats the big idea? No job will tick every box on your dream job requirements. Its important to put in the work to understand what role and environment will provide progress in your career, not perfection. To switch jobs productively and expect job satisfaction, critical steps need to be completed before submitting your application anywhere. Below, coauthors Ethan, Michael, and Bob share five key insights from their new book, Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career. Listen to the audio versionread by Michael and Ethanin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Identify the root causes of why you want to change jobs. Every year, roughly one billion people change jobs. If youre like most people, youre probably switching jobs roughly every four years. Hundreds of millions report that theyre disappointed with the outcome of their switch. Maybe you ended up in a new role and then quit quietly. Maybe you started your next job search just months after starting a new job. Or maybe youre like the two-thirds of American workers who report to Gallup that they are disengaged in their current jobs. When most people think about changing jobs, they tend to focus on the features they want, like better hours, less travel, higher pay, a worthier title, faster advancement, greater responsibility, more impact, and more vacation or benefits. All those things sound nice, but such lists rarely help us progress in our careers because they fail to ground us in the true reasons were looking for something new. What is actually driving a job move right now? By using the Jobs to Be Done theory around why people change behavior and studying over a thousand people who have switched jobs, weve distilled the forces that cause someone to make a switch. We didnt just study people who were thinking about changing jobs because bitchin aint switchin. People love to complain and think about what could be better. But to understand what really causes these changes meant looking at those who made the switch. When we looked at the functional, social, and emotional forces that pushed someone to make a job move, we noticed they clustered into four common patterns, which we call quests for progress: Get Out. When a person cant see a way to thrive in their current job or their manager makes it feel like a dead end. They want to escape where they can be supported and challenged. Regain Control. When a person feels overwhelmed (or bored) in an aspect of life. They want to find an employer that gives a say in how to allocate time and do work. Regain Alignment. When a persons current employer does not fully value their experience, knowledge, or credentials. They want an environment and role in which they are respected, acknowledged, and reengaged by making full use of their skills. Take the Next Step. When a person has reached a career or life milestone and wants an exciting place to move forward and take on more responsibility. 2. Make career progress by figuring out specifically what you want to do in your next job. The most straightforward way to determine what quest youre on is to understand how you want your next job to motivate or energize you each day and how you want it to make use of your capabilities. By understanding whether youre looking to build or reset along those two dimensions, you can figure out what quest youre on. For example, one individual longed for a reset from a role at a large multinational company where, in her view, overachievers [went] to feel bad about themselves. She wanted to reset how her job energized her. In contrast, an individual at a tech company was energized by her team. She wanted her next job to build on that feeling of community spirit with a culture where people stood up for each other. The other question is how your job makes use of your capabilities. One individual who had worked in the global health arena found herself as the chief of staff to the executive director of a research institute. She loved the organizations mission but quickly realized that her role wasnt aligned with her skillset. She wasnt sufficiently respected for her capabilities and wasnt challenged to grow them further. She found a new role within the same organization so she could reset how work made use of her capabilities. When another individual considered leaving the military, a phone call telling her she was up for a prestigious promotion persuaded her to stay. Thats because the new role would allow her to build on her current capabilitiessomething she desired. 3. Job seekers should build three to five prototypes of what they could do next. In product development, successful designers learn what progress customers want to make in their lives before building prototypes to test their early ideas. They experiment with multiple rough mock-ups that they can easily change. Career choices benefit from experimentation, too. If you try to skip to the end by picking one option off a list of job postings, youre likely to either get overwhelmed by the variety of possibilities or end up overly constrained by the first options you consider. You probably want to get to the answer of whats next quickly, but thats the hard way to switch jobs. A good job move is about smart tradeoffs. There is no perfect or dream job that fulfills every dimension. A good job move is about smart tradeoffs. If you think there is a perfect job, then youre setting yourself up for disappointment and, crucially, you dont know how to make trade-offs, so that you can make real progress. Crafting multiple prototypes is productive in the short term and the long run. It helps uncover the interdependencies and trade-offs inherent in a quest. Having three to five prototypes will help because, like in new product development, the contrasts between them indicate what is critical and what youre willing to give up. Humans are not always great at identifying exactly what we want to do in life, but the human brain is quite good at ruling out certain options when it sees them alongside others. To build prototypes, talk to people in jobs like the ones youve mocked up. To be clear: This isnt a standard infrmational interview. Many informational interviews meander around the topic of how someone came to their current role and only vaguely touch on what its like in practice. They tend to focus on how the interviewer can get a similar job, perhaps at the same company, even if thats not the intent. Thats not how we want you to do this. We want you to be hyper-focused on what people do daily and weekly in their roleand how those activities pertain to what energizes you and the capabilities you want to use in your next job. Thats how youll figure out what is a good move and what isnt. 4. Learn to tell your career story effectively. After youve identified your quest and prototyped jobs to figure out what you want to do next, in an ideal world, you would go to the job market and find a no-hassle match. But, like other matchmaking endeavors, finding your next job is never that easy. Part of the reason you have done so much work to get to this point is because what organizations think applicants want isnt typically the same as what you actually want. As a result, they have trouble attracting the right people and developing them effectively. You are living in an imperfect world where you will have to translate your prototype into a career narrative that managers and organizations can understand. Learning how to tell that career narrative to the world is critical. Conventionally, people might have referred to this as an elevator pitch. But most people see an elevator pitch as a chance to sell yourself to others. Were not trying to make you a salesperson (yet)we want you to be a storyteller first. Tell the story between the lines of your résumé; share the story spine, not just the highlights. You dont have to be a born storyteller to craft a good story spine. You can take your cues from one of the best storytellers in the world: Pixar. Turning your quest for progress into a story is an effective way to get noticed and be understood. In 2011, Emma Coats, a storyboard artist at Pixar, tweeted 22 guidelines to make anyone a better storyteller. Her fourth point about creating a story spine to provide narrative structure has received the most sustained attention. Given that the human brain is wired to learn and retain information through stories, turning your quest for progress into a story is an effective way to get noticed and be understood. The story spine will help you create and tell this story well. In Job Moves, we help you follow a Mad Libs-like template to craft your career story and nail it so that employers understand where youve been, and be compelled about where youre going and why. 5. Successful job switching is a social process. At every turn, switching jobs is social. Trying to figure out what quest youre on? Turn to a trusted friend, mentor, manager, or colleague to unpack your last job switch. Looking to understand what drives your energy and what capabilities you want to continue developing? A mentor can help you spot trends and clues from your past jobs. Building prototypes? Youll benefit from others extending their networks to youfrom informational interviews to learning about new opportunities and ultimately landing a job. Despite all the activity on online job boards, most roles are still filled through personal connections. If we recognized that a good job move is a social process for finding the best outcomes for individuals and organizations, then we would build a common language around job moves that includes vocabulary for why a person usually moves, what quest they are on as they do so, how to generate options together, and how applicants can tell their stories. Thats why we wrote a social book with chapters for job movers, mentors, and even organizational leaders. Even though few people feel comfortable talking about why they might or might not move jobs, its the best way to make progress. Heres an analogy. Consumers expect a customized user experience each time they buy a product: a digital storefront tailored to them and their purchasing patterns. Apps know how to do that from data collected about a consumers buying behavior. Because weve gotten so used to customized user experiences, were expecting customized employee experiences as well. But the only way that can happen is if we share enough data on ourselvesour pushes and pulls, energy drivers and drains, capabilities, quests, prototypes, story spinesfor that to be possible. The ultimate key is to encourage people to think progress not perfection, as you pay it forward and help others make job moves. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Category:
E-Commerce
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