We’re in the midst of a technological revolution driven by the advent of artificial intelligence. The world has yet to fully understand how advancements in generative AI tools will shape the future. However, one thing is certain. What first seemed novel has now become a race among superpowers to build the most superior model. 

DeepSeek, a new AI model developed and launched by a Chinese-based startup, shook the world with a groundbreaking announcement this week. If verified, their model took a fraction of the time and cost to develop, build, and release than the best American-made models available today.[1] While uneventful to the general public, it marked a pivotal moment in an emerging tech race between nations. It signaled a remarkable new benchmark of advancement and capabilities for a new kind of economic and technological dominance. 

Artificial intelligence will power the next generation of technology that will inform, shape, and support our future. It will touch nearly every aspect of our lives from information to goods and service production, financial markets, science and research, healthcare, revolutionary efficiencies, and even disturbingly lethal military uses. Advancements in AI create new possibilities with mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety. 

An economy with the ability to develop, launch, and operate multiple large-scale, advanced AI systems in less time with fewer resources will be able to conduct near-instant calculations across complex bio, social, and technology systems, providing them a unique competitive edge. Such developments will be the equivalent of what it meant to leap into the industrialization age, but at a disruptive and overwhelming pace never experienced before in human history. 

So long as the prevailing values of the world are rooted in power, control, and dominance, humanity has every reason to fear what comes next. When new advancements are used as competitive weapons instead of unifying global tools, opposition and distrust become the social narratives over collaboration and trust. A nation may thrive economically when it invests in winning the competition, but the majority of the world suffers from the violence and injustice that power and control incites.

Humanity has the potential to thrive when it finds a common goal and works toward shared solutions. Eradicating or reducing the threats of killer diseases such as smallpox, AIDS, and polio have been shared global efforts of the past and present with remarkable success. AI can accelerate the possibilities of a hopeful future by providing equal opportunities and systematizing the most complex and disordered parts of life that hold humanity back. It has the potential to improve, elevate, and provide equitable and sustainable outcomes for everyone when put to use for good over power and selfish gain.

Ultimately, the future will be determined by the universal values humanity believes it’s designed to live by. Building a better tomorrow requires our values to represent progress, collaboration, fairness, and trust. These values must be cultivated first in our communities and continuously shared for generations to come. 

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/technology/what-is-deepseek-china-ai.html