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- 🚫 DeepSeek faces possible U.S. ban
🚫 DeepSeek faces possible U.S. ban
PLUS: Google hit with £5B UK lawsuit ⚖️
AI Insights
April 18, 2025
Welcome, AI Enthusiasts!
Today’s AI Insights:
DeepSeek faces possible U.S. ban
Google hit with £5B UK lawsuit
Google releases Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview
OpenAI eyes $3B Windsurf acquisition
Anthropic backs Goodfire for AI transparency
Google gives students free AI tools
How to create AI-generated music with AI
AI tool of the day
Latest AI and tech news
Read Time: 3 mintue
LATEST AI NEWS
DEEPSEEK
Image source: Getty Images
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a crackdown on Chinese AI firm DeepSeek, which could block access to Nvidia chips and even ban Americans from using its models.
The Details:
The proposed restrictions follow rising concerns over China’s rapid progress in AI and the potential misuse of U.S. technologies.
DeepSeek has become increasingly popular with U.S. developers, offering powerful AI models at competitive prices — undercutting major American players.
The White House on Tuesday also tightened export rules, further limiting Nvidia’s AI chip sales to China.
DeepSeek has faced allegations of IP theft; OpenAI claims the lab may have distilled its models without permission, a violation of its terms.
Officials are reportedly exploring ways to restrict both chip access and consumer reach, positioning the move as part of a broader strategy to curb China’s AI ambitions.
Why it matters:
A potential DeepSeek ban could shake up the open-source AI landscape, limit access to affordable frontier models, and signal a new phase of AI cold war between the U.S. and China. For AI developers, it’s not just about performance anymore — it’s about geopolitics.
Google has released Gemini 2.5 Flash, its newest lightweight reasoning model, to the standalone Gemini app—positioning it as a nimble rival to OpenAI’s o-series models.
The Details:
Gemini 2.5 Flash is now in preview on the Gemini app, Google AI Studio, and Vertex AI.
It’s a smaller, cost-efficient sibling of Gemini 2.5 Pro—optimized for day-to-day tasks but still equipped with reasoning capabilities.
Flash can dynamically adjust the compute power needed per request, helping developers manage token usage with budget controls.
While Flash is built for speed, it still ranks high on LMArena, just behind Gemini 2.5 Pro (which currently tops the leaderboard).
The launch follows OpenAI’s release of o3 and o4-mini models, which boast agentic capabilities like web search and Python—intensifying the rivalry.
Why it matters:
This marks a new era of real-time AI competition, with Google and OpenAI releasing near-identical updates within days. Gemini Flash shows Google’s strategy: high-speed, efficient models with reasoning smarts. And now that it’s in the hands of users, comparisons to OpenAI’s o-series will determine just how close the race really is.
Google is facing a massive £5 billion ($6.6 billion) class-action lawsuit in the UK, accused of inflating advertising costs by abusing its dominant position in the online search market.
The Details:
Filed with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, the lawsuit claims Google’s monopoly led to unfairly high ad prices.
The suit is led by competition law expert Or Brook, representing hundreds of thousands of UK businesses using Google Ads since 2011.
It alleges Google restricted competition by locking in deals with phone makers to pre-install Chrome and Search, and paid Apple to be Safari’s default.
A 2020 CMA study cited in the case found Google controlled 90% of UK search ad revenue.
Google called the suit “speculative” and said it would fight the allegations, claiming users and advertisers choose it for being useful, not due to a lack of options.
Why it matters:
This case mirrors global antitrust concerns around Big Tech’s grip on digital markets. If successful, it could force Google to change its advertising model in one of its largest markets — and open the door for more legal challenges across Europe.
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AI & TECH NEWS
OpenAI is in talks to acquire Windsurf (formerly Codeium) for $3B—its biggest deal yet. The AI coding tool recently raised $150M at a $1.25B valuation. If finalized, this move would expand OpenAI’s developer toolset as it also pursues a $40B funding round.
Google is offering U.S. college students free access to Gemini Advanced, Veo 2, NotebookLM Plus, and 2TB storage through Spring 2026. The bundle, available until June 30, boosts study, writing, and creativity with AI built into Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Anthropic invested $1M in Goodfire, a startup building AI tools that explain how other models think. Goodfire’s tech helps spot risks like hallucinations by revealing hidden patterns—making AI safer and easier to control as its use scales.
Microsoft added a new “computer use” feature to Copilot Studio, letting AI agents navigate apps and websites like a human—no API needed. It enables smarter automation for tasks like data entry and research, with better adaptability to changing UIs.
AI TUTORIAL
MeloHunt is an AI-powered song generator that enables users to create original, high-quality music tracks without requiring any musical expertise
Steps to follow:
Go to MeloHunt’s website and sign up for an account
Select either ‘Simple Mode’ for quick music generation or ‘Custom Mode’ for more detailed customization.
In ‘Simple Mode,’ provide a brief description of the desired style or mood. In ‘Custom Mode,’ specify parameters like genre, tempo, and mood.
Click ‘Generate’ to let the AI compose a unique track based on your inputs
Listen to the generated track, and if satisfied, download it for personal or commercial use
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💻 SlidesPilot - AI tools for creating and enhancing presentations.
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