Lots of big announcements and news stories broke at the top of 2025, many of which were AI-related. If these revelations are indicative of the year to come, we could see large leaps forward in artificial intelligence in general and, subsequently, popular tools.
Many of the items in this month’s round-up are large-scale, so it may not be immediately clear how they will affect marketing specifically; however, I’m sure they’ll have an impact one way or another given their sheer size or the capability of disruption to the market as a whole. As there were many tidings to choose from last month, this is a handful of the more transfixing bits of information.
OpenAI’s Stargate Project
In mid-January, 2025, OpenAI announced the Stargate Project, which was accompanied by similar announcements from the incoming Trump administration of a $500 billion investment in private-sector AI infrastructure.
Project Stargate is a significant artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative and joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX. Over the next four years, the project plans to invest up to $500 billion to develop extensive AI infrastructure across the United States. They say they’re going to construct numerous data centers equipped to support the next generation of AI models.
So, faster, smarter tools are on the horizon, perhaps? I think most people already assumed AI would continue to get better, but this revelation sets a precedent for pace. In terms of these initiatives’ impact on AI in marketing, we’ll have to wait and see.
DeepSeek is Taking the World By Storm
You may have seen or heard of DeepSeek over the last couple of weeks. If you haven’t, it’s a Chinese AI startup that just launched its latest AI models. DeepSeek claims its chatbots are on par or better than U.S.-owned equivalents, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It’s even become the top free app in Apple’s App Store, edging out ChatGPT.
I’ve never used DeepSeek, so I can’t comment on its quality or abilities. It’ll be interesting to see how it’s different from what U.S. companies have on offer and why the general public seems to be flocking to it in droves. Reuters reports that some DeepSeek models are “20 to 50 times cheaper to use than OpenAI’s o1 model.”
Headlines abound about plummeting U.S. stock prices in the wake of DeepSeek’s disruption. Right now, it’s unclear what that means on a micro or macro level. Once real users — particularly marketers — have time to explore DeepSeek, we’ll get to learn how it truly stacks up against ChatGPT and other tools.
New Operator Model from OpenAI
On January 23rd, OpenAI introduced its newest creation called Operator. Similar to Google’s Project Mariner, Operator is positioned as an intelligent agent that can “perform tasks for you” using its own browser.
OpenAI offers a few examples of what the tech can do, including “filling out forms, ordering groceries, and even creating memes.”
If Operator and Project Mariner both shape up to be a success, maybe marketers can start getting more excited about a future where filling out spreadsheets manually isn’t the norm. Who knows!
Repealed AI Executive Order in the U.S.
Back in 2023, the Biden administration signed the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which sought to reduce risks posed by the technology on everything from consumers to national security.
Quickly following President Trump’s inauguration, he took action to repeal the order, stating that it “hinders AI innovation and imposes onerous and unnecessary government control over the development of AI.”
How this ultimately winds up impacting the development of intelligent tools is yet to be known, but it’s a big revelation that sends a message to AI companies that the world is their oyster. We’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.
Some Big AI Waves Signal What’s to Come in 2025
If these bits of news and announcements are any indication of what’s to come this year, we’ll likely see some major changes in the artificial intelligence space in 2025. International competitors pushing into the U.S. market and major monetary investments in infrastructure from industry leaders and the U.S. government hint at AI acceleration at a speed we’ve yet to see.
This year will be an interesting one — in terms of AI and otherwise. If you don’t know what to make of all this news yet, you’re not alone. It has always been hard to comprehend AI’s rapid proliferation, but that’s especially the case now with everything else going on around us; the passing of the torch from one administration to the other, the rapid breakthrough of new tools from other countries. These changes can potentially impact the growth of AI in business and marketing.
If ripples in the water extend from any of these announcements, we’ll be sure to cover them in next month’s round-up alongside any brand-new revelations.
