The Colab Brief - 153: DeepSeek & AI Narrative Wars

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Ash + Lizzy
February 01, 2025

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DeepSeek kicked off an AI arms race this week when they dropped an open-source, highly-performant model for a fraction of the cost. The technical implications are big, but the comms story might be bigger.

Billions in market cap evaporated overnight largely because of narrative. AI giants that had raised billions on a story about compute dominance were tagged as moatless commodities, while 'GPT wrappers' became the new future of AI.

Here's the thing about AI: no one actually knows what's going to happen next. But DeepSeek's drop exposed just how much of the industry runs on storytelling. For years, the narrative has been dominated by AI giants pushing one vision. Now, there's room for new voices to enter the chat.

To see where the opportunity lies, let's look at how the tech giants responded to the DeepSeek drop and where the AI narrative might be headed next:

OpenAI & Sam Altman: 

  • Medium: X

  • Overall message: ‘Finally some competition, just wait until you see what's next’

  • Response: 

    • Sam went direct on X admitting to a need to accelerate their own releases; followed up with a Satya selfie to reassure investors

    • Felt the most caught off guard, ended by zooming out to a vision of ‘AGI and beyond’

  • What it means:

    • OpenAI's position as the narrative leader in AI is vulnerable

    • They’ll likely lean harder into technical superiority and stoking AGI fear

Anthropic & Dario Amodei:

  • Medium: Published essay

  • Message: ‘This isn't the threat you think it is; real issue is chip export controls’

  • Response:

    • Classic Anthropic pivot to policy and governance

    • Pushed for regulations that would strengthen their position

  • What it means: 

    • Will double down on policy/safety angle to justify premium position

    • Expect more emphasis on responsible AI to differentiate

Microsoft & Satya Nadella:

  • Medium: Earnings call

  • Message: ‘This is just another step in computing's evolution - and it's good for us’

  • Response:

    • Reframed disruption as opportunity for platform growth

    • Put moment in the context of cloud evolution; appeared genuinely unbothered

  • What it means:

    • Platform play looks stronger as models commoditize

    • Will focus on enterprise adoption over model capabilities

Meta & Zuckerberg:

  • Medium: Earnings call

  • Message: ‘We're all-in on AI and leading the open-source future’

  • Response:

    • Announced hundreds of billions in AI investment

    • Positioned Llama to lead the commoditization wave

  • What it means:

    • Sees opportunity to own open-source narrative

    • Will position Llama as a democratic alternative to closed AI

NVIDIA:

  • Medium: PR statement 

  • Message: ‘Great progress - powered by our GPUs’

  • Response:

    • Let PR handle it; no CEO statement

    • Turned threat into product placement for their chips

  • What it means: 

    • NVIDIA's position as the picks-and-shovels play remains strong

    • They'll stay above model wars; expect focus on infrastructure stories

Takeaways 🎯

  • AI is about to get a lot more political: Expect OpenAI and Anthropic to lean harder into geopolitical narratives and regulatory fears to protect their positions. When technical moats fade, policy moats become more valuable.

  • The investment thesis is shifting: Pre-DeepSeek, AI apps were dismissed as un-investable ‘GPT wrappers.' As models commoditize, investors are betting on beautiful UX and killer consumer experiences. The next AI unicorns will be the ones building user relationships and loyalty. (Brand building for the win.)

  • There's a comms opportunity: This shift creates an opening for new voices. Focus on your 'why' instead of your 'what'. Rather than technical superiority, tell stories about what users can achieve. Push your executives to talk about customer love, not compute costs. The media is hungry for executives with bold visions about where the future is going and where the money will be made — and right now, that story is shifting to the application layer.

📱 New in non-traditional media

Tracking the newsletters, podcasts, and creators reshaping media influence.

  • 📰 In the news

    Jim Acosta goes to Substack

    CNN anchor, Jim Acosta, left the network this week to launch a Substack and quickly racked up 109k+ subscribers.


    LinkedIn’s new CMO eyes growth 

    Jessica Jensen joined LinkedIn to get “the next billion people”. That likely means more video, better search, and ‘For You’-esque feeds.


    Tiktokers & Substackers invited to White House press briefing room

    Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s new press secretary, is opening the briefing room to bloggers, podcasters, and social media influencers. 


    Paul Krugman leaves NYT for Substack

    Paul Krugman left the NYT to write full-time for his 149k+ Substack followers: “What I felt… was a push towards blandness, toward avoiding saying anything too directly in a way that might get some people riled up.”

  • 🎤 Spotlight on AI creators

    Looking to round out your coverage with more newsletters and podcasts? Here are some favorite non-traditional media outlets to pitch your next story [climate tech edition]:

  • ⭐️ Favorite story of the week:

    Beehiiv 2025 State of Email Newsletters - beehiiv blog

    • 2025 is the year newsletters break through as the default medium for influencer journalists, creators jumping platforms, and CEOs building direct audiences

    • Not a news story, but a useful resource for understanding the metrics your favorite creators are tracking and need to think about to grow

    • Lots of tips to scale a newsletter for your own company or CEO

🎧️ Industry chatter

We joined Podcamp Media to chat about navigating influencer marketing, why traditional media's influence is waning, and how PR professionals can adapt their strategies. Listen here.

⚡️ Steal this pitch

When news cycle present multiple timely topics for your spokesperson to speak to (earnings calls and DeepSeek, perhaps), pulling all the threads into one pitch can be pretty effective. We went that route for our clients this week and got great pickup; here’s the exact pitch we used:

  • Pitch:

    The AI chip stock sell-off, rise of cost-efficient AI platforms by companies like DeepSeek, and upcoming major tech earnings are driving critical conversations about the future of the tech sector.

    [EXECUTIVE] can provide timely insights into these developments, including -

    • AI Stock Sell-Off: What’s driving investor pullbacks in AI chip stocks like Nvidia, and what this means for the broader tech sector.

    • DeepSeek’s Disruption: What platforms created by DeepSeek, built cost-effectively with similar levels of functionality as its U.S. counterparts, mean for the U.S. 's tech landscape and economy.

    • Big Tech Earnings: Key themes to watch as tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Tesla report their earnings this week, including AI-related investments and market growth.

💫 Client Wins

Our clients are making headlines. Check out coverage our clients got this week in Fortune, InformationWeek, and The GTM Podcast.

Want coverage like this? Say hello.

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