A top United Nations official has lauded the open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Chinese start-up DeepSeek for its groundbreaking computational efficiency, while underlining the importance of the UN initiative of Global Digital Compact in using technologies to solve issues around the world. In a studio interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing, Tshilidzi Marwala, the UN under-secretary-general and rector of the UN University, shared his view on DeepSeek and the influence it will have on the global AI ecosystem. DeepSeek's new model, DeepSeek-R1, has attracted significant global attention since it was released in January, with many hailing how its advanced reasoning capabilities are on par with other leading AI systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, but at a fraction of the development cost. He then emphasized the global implications of DeepSeek's open-source nature, particularly for regions lacking sufficient expertise in AI technology. Shotlist: Beijing, China - Feb 24, 2025: FILE: China - Date unknown 1. Various of animation showing AI, data transmission; 2. Computer screen showing DeepSeek webpage; Beijing, China - Feb 24, 2025 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Tshilidzi Marwala, under secretary-general, United Nations; rector, United Nations University (starting with shot 2/partially overlaid with shots 4-5): "DeepSeek obviously is cheap, which basically means that it seems that it has been able to crack the computational efficiency dilemma that we seem to have forgotten. I personally actually work in the area of computational efficiency, as we run these large-scale Monte Carlo simulations (a model used to predict the probability of a variety of outcomes) to be able to build better AI, I think DeepSeek reminds us that you can actually make those computationally expensive algorithms cheap without necessarily compromising on the accuracy of the algorithms themselves."; FILE: China - Date unknown [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 4. Computer screen showing DeepSeek webpage; 5. Keyboard; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 6. Various of animation showing data transmission, buildings, subway, computer hardware; Beijing, China - Feb 24, 2025 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tshilidzi Marwala, under secretary-general, United Nations; rector, United Nations University (partially overlaid with shots 8-13): "How do we bring the worlds that do not have enough trained people to be able to understand this technology so that they can be able to come and learn about the development of DeepSeek and go out to their countries and develop their own versions of DeepSeek that is able to deal with local issues. So, the issue of the [UN] Global Digital Compact (a comprehensive framework for global governance of digital technology and AI) is very, very important. The issue of cross cultural and international collaboration are very, very important."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Beijing, China - Aug 13, 2024 8. Various of people attending Youth Pre-Meeting for the UN Summit of the Future; FILE: China - Date unknown 9. Programmer working at laptop, computer; 10. Various of animation showing AI systems in operation; 11. Computer screen showing DeepSeek webpage; FILE: UN Headquarters, New York City - Date Unknown 12. UN flag; 13. UN emblem; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown 14. Various of screen showing working interfaces of China's National Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Group boosted by DeepSeek; FILE: China - Date unknown 15. Men working at computer. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]