Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** March 6, 2025
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What DeepSeek Means for AI Competition
The Chinese firm DeepSeek's R1 model quickly became one of the world's top large language models when it was released earlier this year. Its success is underscored by the fact that it was cheaper to develop and run than U.S. competitors' models, including those created by Google, Meta, and OpenAI.
According to RAND's Carter Price and Brien Alkire, U.S. policies that constrained China's access to chips for training AI models pushed Chinese firms like DeepSeek to focus on optimizing performance. This resulted in lower training costs and cheaper inference, the process by which an AI analyzes new data and makes predictions.
Fortunately, the emergence of DeepSeek has highlighted lessons that can help shape U.S. policy and advance U.S. interests in the race against China. "The competition for AI is far from over," Price and Alkire say.
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The Rise of Strategic Bombing Portends a Dangerous Future
Conflicts around the world--from Ukraine, to the Middle East, to Ethiopia--are increasingly defined by one particular kind of warfare: strategic bombing. With the rise of precise, long-range drones and missiles, state and nonstate actors alike can bombard targets from great distances at relatively little cost. The technology behind strategic bombing may be new, says RAND's Raphael Cohen, but its allure builds on the long-standing presumption that airpower is a "precise form of warfare that can end conflicts quickly." In reality, the results fall short. And as strategic bombing becomes more common, "civilian populations and crucial infrastructure will ultimately pay the price."
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Building Impact: Architecture in America
A new RAND report examines the field of architecture in the United States. Our researchers surveyed thousands of students, faculty, and practicing architects to learn more about how people become interested in architecture, the current state of training and education, the skills required for practicing professionals, and more. The findings point to a handful of recommendations that may be useful to leaders in the field. For example, revisiting the admissions process and considering ways to cut student costs could encourage more people to pursue careers in architecture.
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** RAND Recommends
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- In the New York Times, RAND's Jude Blanchette explains Beijing's view of U.S. tariffs on imports from China: "Beijing remains cautiously optimistic that it can make a truce with Trump so that the current trade war does not escalate into new and potentially far more costly domains."
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- RAND's Lori Uscher-Pines discusses findings from her new study on the effects of virtual lactation support on breastfeeding rates.
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- What are the key considerations and challenges related to "force design" in the U.S. Navy? RAND's Bradley Martin explains.
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** Events
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The U.S.-Japan Alliance Series
Monday, March 10, 2025 (Los Angeles, CA, and Online)
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RAND Health Care Workforce Summit
Monday, March 17, 2025 (Washington, DC)
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Policy Lab: Why AI Projects Fail
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 (Online)
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Applications are open for Pardee RAND Graduate School's new Master of National Security Policy degree program. Full-time and part-time schedules are available at our campuses in Santa Monica, CA, and Arlington, VA.
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