DeepSeek and the Global Significance of Foundation Models

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the rise of DeepSeek, the evolution of foundation models, and the geopolitical shifts in AI development as of late 2025.

DeepSeek

A Chinese AI model developed by High Flyer that shocked the U.S. stock market in early 2025 by achieving for $6\text{ million}$ what cost the U.S. over $100\text{ million}+$.

Foundation Model

A large-scale AI model trained on a huge amount of data that can be adapted and fine-tuned for a wide variety of applications and downstream tasks.

Sovereign AI

The initiative by countries such as Australia, UAE, and Taiwan to build their own large language models to reflect national values and retain economic and cultural sovereignty.

gpt-oss-120B

An open model released by OpenAI in August 2025, signaling a shift in AI leadership and competition.

Digital Silk Road

A Chinese initiative that offers infrastructure alongside DeepSeek technology to other countries.

Gemini

A Google AI model, including Gemini 3.1 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash, that excels in intelligence indexes while maintaining fast output speeds.

Claude

An AI model from Anthropic, with top-tier versions including Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Mixture of Experts (MoE)

A technical strategy used by DeepSeek to optimize their performance on Chinese-made chips and bypass U.S. sanctions.

Open Weight Model

A model that allows developers to share the parameters of AI systems with the public, promoting transparency and collaboration in AI development.