DeepSeek More Affordable For Africa's Tech Startups

Bloomberg

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00:00I do wonder why the rivals to OpenAI out of China, like DeepSeek, are so popular.

00:07We heard a bit of the view from Shiko there, but how would you put it?

00:12So basically, DeepSeek is a lot cheaper when it comes to startup founders.

00:19We spoke to the one Nigerian startup founder, and he has an e-learning platform,

00:24and said for him to train that platform costs him about $2,700 a month,

00:31compared to if you do use OpenAI equivalent, it's about $12,500 a month.

00:36So that's a big difference for a startup founder in Africa.

00:41Yeah.

00:41And it's open source. You can adapt it to your models.

00:45So, yeah, it just makes sense for some people.

00:48So cost are big factor, but this reminds me of the Belt and Road Initiative, right?

00:51Isn't there a danger that you're going to have customers very reliant on Chinese suppliers,

00:57and even if the offering is cheap up front, they might be painfully reliant on them later down the line?

01:03So China has been investing in Africa for a long time when it comes to tech.

01:07The past 20 years quite heavily investing in Africa.

01:11Huawei's equipment is now 5G, our fiber.

01:15So, yes, you do then become quite reliant on it.

01:18We saw a bit of diets with the Chinese entry exams that they have every year.

01:22They cut access to the AI models, and we felt it in Nigeria, in Kenya,

01:27as our biometrics system didn't work all of a sudden.

01:30You know, the things that are trained on these AI models.

01:32So, yes, you do become reliant, and you feel it.

01:35And are there safeguards in place to stop all this sensitive data winding up in Beijing?

01:38So, DeepSeq tells us, you know, if we are storing data in China, which they do,

01:48according to Chinese privacy laws, they can access it.

01:52And they tell us that.

01:53So, that's the risk you take.

01:57Africans are not necessarily pro-Western models.

02:01You know, they're not too concerned in terms of whether they fall on the eastern or western side of this debate.

02:09Really?

02:09Because, you know, the tech tisons of Silicon Valley are so close to President Trump.

02:14I witnessed it when I was covering his state visit to the UK.

02:16They were literally around the table, right, with him and with the king.

02:20Is there not a risk that Africa ends up on the Chinese side in the middle of the trade war between Beijing and Washington?

02:26You can, of course, end up in the middle of this trade war, and there's tariffs coming out every week,

02:32and you have to renegotiate these tariffs.

02:35But I think, in the end, it's going to fall in what makes sense for Africans, you know.

02:42What will make sense for a founder, if you're a sort of founder, to learn, to teach your model, train your model.

02:49All these AI models need sort of to be trained.

02:52And everything in 50 years is going to be African.

02:56It's the fastest growing population in the world.

02:58It's the youngest population in the world.

03:00So, sports, entertainment, AI models that need to get trained, it's all going to be African in 50 years.

03:06Well, I understand the case for Chinese offerings like DeepSeek, cheaper for one.

03:10Is there a push factor, though, from American offerings like OpenAI, then,

03:14that makes them less suitable to that young audience in Africa?

03:19Yeah.

03:20So, we have seen, actually, we have seen OpenAI also sort of announcing that they will be looking at open source models as well.

03:28So, I think everyone is going to try and see how they adapt their models.

03:35For now, when it comes to startups specifically, we are not talking about the larger companies

03:41that have contracts in place with OpenAI and so on.

03:47But for startups specifically, we are seeing the popularity, the surge, the edge, competitive edge,

03:53more leaning towards a DeepSeek at the moment.

03:57So, we're not talking about the people in the world.

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