AAIA's AI Beat Newsletter: Seattle, Portland/SW WA, and North Carolina USA Chapter events, this week’s handpicked news/reports: Shift in AI Model Efficiency and Cost Structure, CIOs bullish on AI agents; IT employees, not so much.

AI in business and the enterprise news:

Here’s news that caught our and Perplexity’s attention as notable stories over the last week:

• DeepSeek’s AI Innovation: A Shift in AI Model Efficiency and Cost Structure (IDC, January 31, 2025)

  • “By rethinking how AI models are trained and optimized, DeepSeek isn’t just another competitor—it’s actively challenging some of the most fundamental cost and efficiency assumptions in AI development.”

    “DeepSeek’s model suggests a different future, where AI solutions could become more broadly accessible without requiring major infrastructure overhauls.”

    “The real question now is how quickly the industry will respond. Will established players adapt to the growing demand for cost-efficient AI architectures, or will newer entrants set the pace for innovation?”

• CIOs are bullish on AI agents. IT employees? Not so much. (CIO, February 4, 2025)

  • “Skepticism from IT practitioners is natural, given they will have to work out how to deploy and maintain AI agents, says Tim Armandpour, CTO at PagerDuty. While it’s the job of CIOs and CTOs to scout out new technologies, IT managers and staff are “closer to the action and closer to the madness of what it takes to operate and manage things at scale,” he says.”

    ““Frontline AI practitioners have likely seen the amount of customization, quality assurance, and maintenance required to make a somewhat functional agentic workflow,” Mikhailov says. “Although the future state may involve the AI agent writing the code and connecting to systems by itself, it now consists of a lot of human labor and testing.””

    ““IT practitioners are cautious due to concerns around accuracy, transparency, security, and integration complexities,” says Chahar, echoing Mikhailov’s critiques. “Agentic AI systems often prove unpredictable, tough to troubleshoot, and challenging to mesh with older infrastructure, not to mention the compliance and security headaches they can create.””

  • Big Ideas 2025 (ARK Invest, h/t Pablo Biggs, Charlotte, NC USA Chapter President)

    • Per Pablo: “...very interesting report from ARK invest that talks about Disruptive Innovation, convergence of technology (and platforms) across a variety of very relevant topics we are all developing or working with…”

    • Download the report here

  • [British] Government launches AI breast cancer trial (digitalhealth, February 4, 2025)

    • “The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed that nearly 700,000 women will take part in the trial in 30 testing sites across England, each of which will be enhanced with AI technologies, ready to invite women already booked in for routine screening on the NHS.”

      “The technology will assist radiologists, screening patients to identify changes in breast tissue that show possible signs of cancer and referred for further investigations if required.”

      “Currently two specialists are needed per mammogram screening, however the technology enables the mammogram screening process to be completed safely and efficiently by one specialist.”

  • New Jersey Invests $1.5 Million to Integrate AI into Public Schools (The Sun Newspapers, February 3, 2025)

    • “The funding’s focus is twofold: enhancing classroom learning through AI-powered tools and developing new AI-related career pathways for students.”

      “These funds will help expand vocational training, giving students hands-on experience with AI and robotics. They’ll learn how computer systems work, explore AI theory, and see its real-world applications in fields like cybernetics and natural language processing.”

      “Beth Simone Noveck, New Jersey’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Strategist, further noted that by integrating AI literacy into classrooms across the state, the initiative democratizes access to transformative technologies and ensures every student has the opportunity to shape a future influenced by AI.”

  • DeepSeek: The countries and agencies that have banned the AI company’s tech (TechCrunch, February 3, 2025)

    • “DeepSeek’s viral AI models and chatbot apps have been banned by a growing number of countries and government bodies, which have expressed concerns over DeepSeek’s ethics, privacy, and security practices.”

      “Corporations have banned DeepSeek, too — by the hundreds. The biggest worry reportedly is potential data leakage to the Chinese government. According to DeepSeek’s privacy policy, the company stores all user data in China, where local laws mandate organizations to share data with intelligence officials upon request.”

Have a newsworthy story or industry report/insight to share with AAIA members and community? Email details to [email protected].