DeepSeek, the buzzy AI from China is now getting some not-so-good buzz. NewsGuard reports that the chatbot failed to provide accurate results about news and information topics 83% of the time. It scored 10th out of 11 compared to leading Western competitors. A NewsGuard audit found that DeepSeek debunked false claims only 17% of the time. 

If that poor a return doesn’t bother you, here is more food for thought about DeepSeek. According to bgr.com…and frankly pretty widely reported elsewhere too…there is built-in censorship about anything sensitive to China. It’s not only built in…the app censors itself in real time. An example from reporters at The Guardian…DeepSeek AI worked well until they asked it about Tiananmen Square and Taiwan. The report also details cases of censorship that other DeepSeek users experienced, including the remarkable discovery that censorship doesn’t happen before DeepSeek starts formulating its chain-of-thought approach to handle a sensitive topic. Instead, DeepSeek tries to answer the question just like ChatGPT and other similar AI models would. A user from Mexico shared their experience with DeepSeek when asking whether free speech was a legitimate right in China. Now, today, the app has apparently been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Italy. Caveat Emptor. 

Poor kids have enough of a time trying to keep up with learning in our connected world. The FCC voted last July to adapt a rule allowing a plan to distribute Wi-Fi hotspots to school kids, so that kids without reliable internet access could complete their homework. Now, arstechnica.com notes that Senator Ted Cruz at a hearing this week came out in favor of blocking the plan…claiming it will lead to unsupervised Internet usage, endanger kids, and possibly restrict kids’ exposure to conservative viewpoints. “The government shouldn’t be complicit in harming students or impeding parents’ ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content,” Cruz said. A press release from Cruz’ office said the FCC action “violates federal law, creates major risks for kids’ online safety, [and] harms parental rights.” He has introduced a resolution to nullify the FCC rule. 

With Apple’s update to iOS, version 18.3, T-Mobile subscribers with a compatible iPhone and Starlink beta access are able to connect to Starlink satellites, reports Bloomberg. Apple quietly worked with SpaceX and T-Mobile to add support for Starlink to its ‌iPhone‌ lineup, and T-Mobile’s website confirms the new integration. Macrumors.com says that T-Moblie partnered with Starlink in 2022, and as of December 2024, opened up a beta program allowing subscribers to use Starlink satellites for texting in areas without cell towers. At the time, the T-Mobile Starlink beta program was limited to Samsung smartphones, and iPhones weren’t supported. The iPhone 14 and later already support satellite connectivity for text messages through Apple’s partnership with Globalstar, so ‌iPhone‌ users who are able to use Starlink can also opt to text with Apple’s built-in satellite service. Both Apple’s service and Starlink are only available when there is no nearby cellular network.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.