It seems every tech company on the planet has something AI-related to tout these days, but to most people, I’d wager “AI” is synonymous with ChatGPT. Sure, plenty of other AI platforms are out there, from Google Gemini, to Microsoft Copilot, to Apple Intelligence, but ChatGPT holds the enviable position of both having been the “first” to the generative AI boom, and having kept the crown in the years since. At least, that was the case—but now, a Chinese startup is threatening to take that crown for itself.

That company is DeepSeek, a name you’re likely familiar with if you have been following AI news. Like ChatGPT’s OpenAI, DeepSeek develops generative AI models. The company’s latest, R1, rolled out on Jan. 20, and made headlines for two key reasons: The model performs as well (if not a bit better) than OpenAI’s o1 model, and it does so while requiring far fewer resources.

R1’s power and efficiency were great enough to make an impact on the stock market, as shares of companies that are heavily invested in AI, including Nvidia, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Meta, and Oracle tumbled in the wake of news about DeepSeek’s latest rollout. (These stocks have largely bumped back up since.) The general public is taking note too: As of this article, DeepSeek is the number one free app in both the iOS and Android app stores—ChatGPT is number two on iOS, and number eight on Android.

Long-story short, DeepSeek is the latest ChatGPT competitor to enter the AI race. Trying it out isn’t complicated (if you can even access it), but, on the flip side, there are reasons you might not want to.

How to try DeepSeek

DeepSeek is currently available as an app on iOS or Android, or available on the web. Unfortunately, accessing the service is currently somewhat difficult.

Using the app, you can try signing up for an account, either by providing an email or phone number and a password, or connecting your Google or Apple account. But you likely won’t have a ton of success doing so, unless you’re persistent. I wasn’t able to make an account the first time I tried, nor could I access the model on the website. After some time passed, the app finally let me in, but I still can’t get the web version to do so. Perhaps once the hype dies down a bit, it’ll be easier to access. But for the moment, good luck.

Once you are in, you’ll find the chatbot is quite similar to other generative AI bots you have tried. You can write out prompts for DeepSeek to answer, upload images and documents for analysis, or share a live camera feed. Like o1, DeepSeek has a reasoning model (DeepThink) that “thinks” through questions and prompts in an effort to provide more detailed and accurate results. You can also search the web, if you choose.

DeepSeek may censor more topics than other bots

However, where DeepSeek differs is in the content it censors from users. Like other chatbots, DeepThink shouldn’t return results for prompts it considers inappropriate, offensive, or dangerous. However, since DeepSeek is a Chinese-based company, its chatbot censors any result that, “incites to subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system,” or “endangers national security and interests and damages the national image,” as reported by The Guardian. As such, ask it about information regarding the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, or why Xi Jinping is often compared to Winnie the Pooh, and you’ll get back, “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

The Guardian found that the bot will sometimes respond with answers to potentially controversial questions. When asked whether Taiwan was a country or not, DeepSeek did answer, albeit with an response that would likely be endorsed by the Chinese government. Notably, though, the outlet also found that while other chatbots offer fuller or more nuanced responses to these questions, they weren’t always forthcoming either: Gemini, for instance, also refused to answer certain questions, so it’s not like American-based chatbots are free from this type of censorship.

When I asked DeepSeek about the marginalized Uyghur people of China, the chatbot started to generate a full report, before deleting it and replacing it with the same error message. (The Chinese government has been accused of human-right violations and even genocide of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.) The Guardian found similar “glitches” when testing these types of prompts with DeepSeek. It does seem like there are workarounds that trick the model into generating uncensored responses, although you might have to deal with some unconventional text formatting.

In general, don’t expect to see DeepSeek results that might piss off the Chinese government. Other than that, it’s basically ChatGPT.

Why you might not want to try DeepSeek (it’s a privacy nightmare)

It’s no secret that tech companies scrape a lot of our data in exchange for using their products, but that usually doesn’t deter users from downloading interesting new apps. But DeepSeek is a little more aggressive with its data collection policies than most.

Taking a look at DeepSeek’s privacy policy, you see some of the usual suspects: The company collects the information you provide when setting up an account, like date of birth, username, email address, phone number, even your password. It also collects information as you use the app, including what device you’re using, which OS it’s running, your IP address, system language, and general diagnostic information. Third-parties can share information they’ve collected about you with DeepSeek, so they know more about you as you use their service. They also employ cookies to track your activity, but you can disable this tracking in settings.

DeepSeek users a keylogger

From here, it’s important to know that DeepSeek is collecting everything you do with the AI model. All text inputs, audio inputs, prompts, files, feedback, or any other way you interact with the model are saved by the company. Again, this isn’t necessarily unique—you shouldn’t share any confidential or private information with any AI bot—but if you’re not comfortable with a company storing documents or recordings of your voice, think twice about what you share with DeepSeek.

It’s not awesome for DeepSeek to collect some of these data points, but they are far from the only company to do so. However, they push beyond the norm: Not only will DeepSeek collect any text you send its model, it tracks your keystroke patterns or rhythms as well. That means any time you interact with your keyboard while using DeepSeek, the company is analyzing both what you type, as well as how you type. Yikes.

DeepSeek stores your data in China

Also concerning is how DeepSeek stores the data it collects. Per the privacy policy, DeepSeek stores all information in servers in China, which was part of the reasoning behind the U.S. government’s push to ban TikTok. There is also no time limit on how long DeepSeek keeps your data, other than “as long as necessary.” This is also how Meta handles user data, but other companies have time limits: OpenAI has a similar clause about keeping data for as long as necessary, but says temporary chats are deleted from servers after 30 days. Meanwhile, Google says it’ll keep data for up to three years.

It’s no secret that big tech is rarely privacy friendly, and AI is no exception. Even in those terms, however,DeepSeek is not a fantastic option for the privacy-minded. If you want to try it while preserving some privacy, I recommend signing in with Apple, which lets you hide your real email address from the company. If you don’t have an Apple account, you could use an email platform like Proton or DuckDuckGo that offer similar shielding services. Just remember that even if DeepSeek can’t see your email, it’s still paying attention to how you type.

Now that we’re a week into the second presidency of Donald J. Trump (has it really been that long?), let’s take a look at how the nation’s younger generations are reacting to Trump’s return to power.

While voter participation among people between 18 and 29 was down in 2024 compared to 2020 (42%, down from 50%) Trump gained ground in every youth demographic. Young women went from 33% support in 2020 to 41% support in 2024, and young men went from 41% support to 55% support. So the kids are getting the president they asked for. Half of the kids, anyway. The other half are not happy, and they’re noting their discontent with meme phrases, a new attitude, and online activism.

It’s not all politics this week, thank god. There’s also an internet invasion by Family Guy one-off character Mr. Washee Washee, and a viral video from Poppy Playtime, a video game that children love and everyone else is confused by.

Kids protest Trump with “cute winter boots”

Soon after Trump’s election in 2016, the youth-led #resistance movement sprung up, first as a hashtag and later in the form of defiant women’s marches and protests that millions attended nationwide. Things look a little different in 2024.

On TikTok, opposition to Trump is coming from posters reminding each other to wear “cute winter boots” to “combat ice.” So if you see that phrase in video, you’re looking at a secret message. The idea is that people who oppose Donald Trump’s immigration policy are against ICE (that is, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), so warning people to “wear cute winter boots” is a coded way of saying, “I don’t like that the president is deporting so many people.”

TikTok’s posters haven’t adopted a slogan like “Oh my god, fuck Donald Trump,” because they feel “cute winter boots” will get past whatever censorship algorithm they think TikTok is using (or something), so they’re posting videos like this one, which adds another “hidden” message with the phrase “kill the CIStem.”

While I appreciate teenagers’ opposition to entrenched power structures, if you ask me, this is all cringe af (as the kids say). Also: this “movement” is surely being artificially inflated by people sharing it because it’s so cringe.

What is the Trump-inspired “dark woke movement?”

I don’t think the “winter boots” thing is going to catch on, but “dark woke” seems to be, even if many of its practitioners don’t call it that. Dark woke is, basically, waiting for misfortune to befall people who voted for Donald Trump so you can pointedly not care. When their uncle Dave has to pay $38 for a salad because so many migrant workers are being deported, a dark woke person might respond, “ha ha, starve, asshole. Don’t like governmental chaos? Should have voted for Harris.”

You get the idea. You can see as many examples of this as you’d like on Reddits like r/LeopardsAteMyFace and r/Trumpgrets.

Again, if you ask me, this is a cynical, selfish, and ultimately pointless movement—I don’t think many people who voted for Trump are going to suddenly admit to making a mistake, no matter what happens. But really, what else is there to do?

Reddit’s movement to ban X

Many of the people who hang out on nerd-centric internet hive Reddit are reacting to Trump’s buddy Elon Musk throwing up a suspicious hand gesture at the President’s inauguration—in addition to his Trump adjacency in general—by banning links to Musk’s social media site X.

The largest subreddits to block links from X are r/NBA, which has 15 million members, r/TwoXChromosomes, which has 14 million members, and r/NFL, which has 12 million members.

Mr. Washee Washee and the “how do I get him off?” meme explained

Moving on from politics: the meme of the moment among young people needs some serious ‘splaining. It features Mr. Washee Washee, a one-off, kinda retro-racist character from The Family Guy. Here’s Washee’s appearance on the show back in 2011:

That clip is not what’s going viral, though. The viral part originated with this X post from @boolymen:

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Viewed over a million times, the post shows Washee Washee seemingly trapped in music production program FL Studios with the question, “how do I get him off?” So there’s a little bit of “I’m a clueless user and something weird happened; help!” that anyone who has assisted older relatives with tech issues will relate to, and there’s also the suggestion that Washee Washee somehow invaded the project of his/its own volition. Pretty funny. But it became meme-worthy because you can answer the question with suggestions like “Have you tried whispering some algebra facts into his ear?” and because you can put Mr. Washee Washee anywhere then ask “How do I get him off?” For example: your browser, or your X profile, or your Windows XP home screen.

Viral video of the week: Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 Gameplay Trailer

The new trailer for the fourth game in the Poppy Playtime series has been viewed nearly seven million times in the three days its been online. These games are a sensation among the preteen set, but can be utterly baffling to anyone old enough to vote, so here’s a rundown: Heavily influenced by Five Nights at Freddy‘s, the Poppy Playtime games are first-person, puzzle-heavy survival-horror games that are geared toward younger players. The ongoing story revolves around the player uncovering the misdeeds of Playtime Co., a toy company that creates the sentient playthings that act as villains in the game.

Kids, it seems, really respond to the games’ scary-but-not-too-scary vibe and that classic horror trope of making something meant as familiar and friendly (clowns, toys, etc.) into something sinister. Kids especially love (and love to be scared by) Huggy Wuggy, a giant blue toy/abomination with bulging eyes, red lips, long limbs who likes eating the people unlucky enough to meet it in an abandoned toy factory.

Google has been taking its crusade against adblockers to a whole new level lately, and users are speculating that unskippable multi-hour ads are its latest weapon. Over the past week, Redditors have been sharing screenshots showing that they’ve been served ads with runtimes as long as three hours, with no skip button in sight—and that’s to watch videos that are much shorter than the ads themselves.

Android Authority was the first to report on the phenomenon, linking to threads from users Lin1ex and Standard-Slip6572, who complained about the feature-length interruptions, complete with images of their screens with the ads in full view. The publication also pointed to commenters who made further claims, saying they were served 10-hour or even 90-hour ads, although these more extreme accusations lacked photo evidence.

If that all sounds a little unbelievable to you, you have good instincts. In one of the linked photos above, you might see a small pop-up, separate from YouTube’s UI, that says “Skipping ads…”

This pop-up led Android Authority to question whether it’s only users running ad blockers who are getting this kind of treatment, a question author Aamir Siddiqui reached out to YouTube for confirmation on. While the company didn’t exactly admit to any specific punitive behavior for users employing adblockers, its answer did seem to hint at what’s going on, if you read between the lines.

“…the use of ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service,” Google’s statement reads. “We’ve launched a global effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience.”

By YouTube’s own admission, unskippable ads are supposed to be limited to 15-seconds (or up to 60 seconds on YouTube TV), so whether on purpose or not, something is definitely messing up here, assuming the Redditors’ claims are true. While I myself have gotten hour-long ads before, a skip button has always appeared for them.

I reached out to YouTube myself for further clarification, and the company sent me a response that reads much like the one given to Android Authority, but with new lines denying that YouTube serves long, unskippable ads in the first place. “YouTube does not serve minutes-long, non-skippable ads,” I was told. The company also said “Viewers with ad blockers may experience a suboptimal viewing experience, as some ad blockers distort the YouTube playback experience.”

This, again, does not necessarily outright blame ad blockers for the specific issue at hand or admit to any purposeful tweaking behind the scenes, although it does leave the possibility for “distorted” playback open (whatever that means).

it’s worth noting that, despite this denial, the move does line up with the company’s recent behavior. Previously, the company has injected ads straight into videos so that ad blockers can’t detect them, as well as used pop-ups to block users with ad blockers from watching videos at all. Google Chrome as a whole has also started disabling certain ad-blockers, thanks to a controversial change to the API extension developers use.

If you notice an unskippable multi-hour ad on YouTube, try disabling your ad blocker to see if that fixes the problem. If it does, you might then want to try watching the video again in incognito mode to see if the issue is linked to your account—this should help you diagnose what’s going on so you can more easily know what to do next.

Update 1/27/25 at 6:15 PM ET: Added response from YouTube.

WASHINGTON, January 27, 2025 — If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party, keep food safety in your playbook to ensure that bacteria doesn’t run out the clock. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has a game plan to keep your Super Bowl servings penalty free.

“One of the biggest threats to a successful game day meal is bacteria that causes foodborne illness,” said USDA FSIS Administrator Dr. Denise Eblen. “Make sure that takeout or delivered food is quickly refrigerated or placed in an oven until your guests arrive.”

Washington, D.C., Jan. 24, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced key appointments by President Donald J. Trump to support his administration’s focus on forest management, wildfire prevention, and natural resource conservation. Ahead of the President’s visit to California to assess wildfire damage, these appointments highlight a renewed dedication to protecting communities, enhancing forest health, and ensuring responsible stewardship of natural resources.

Among the panoply of executive orders signed by president Trump in his first week in office is a directive of special interest to conspiracy theorists: on Thursday, Trump directed the federal government to “present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” as well as the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

“That’s a big one, huh? A lot of people are waiting for this for a long—for years, for decades,” the president said upon signing the order. You can read the full executive order here.

How to see the declassified JFK, RFK, and MLK assassination documents

If you’re hoping Trump’s order will result in The Feds uploading tons of spicy files this afternoon, you’ll be disappointed: this is still the federal government we’re talking about. Instead of insta-revelations, the executive order gives the Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General 15 days to review records related to the assassination of JFK, 45 days for records related to MLK and RFK, and then “present a plan” to the President for the “full and complete release of these records.”

Any new JFK files that get released will likely join the JFK archive maintained by the National Security Agency, where they’ll join nearly 5 million pages of records related to the JFK assassination that are already publicly available. According to the National Archives and Records Administration, 97% of the government’s records related to the JFK assassination are already public. 

Are we going to see all the documents related to the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations?

Whether the president will release complete, un-redacted files and documents associated with the assassinations to the public remains to be seen. There’s nothing preventing Trump from looking at the plan, saying, “fantastic work,” and not doing anything.

The president has the discretion to weigh public interest in disclosure against information that would harm intelligence or military operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations. How Trump might judge these options is unknown, although, for what it’s worth, the executive order states that “all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.”

Didn’t this already happen?

If this news gives you a vague sense of déjà vu, it’s understandable. Back in 2017, during Trump’s first term as president, the president announced he was opening the JFK files:

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Since then, dribs and drabs of new information about JFK’s killing have been made public, but there are still thousands of documents that are sealed and countless redactions that could be removed from publicly available documents.

The real bombshells might not be about either Kennedy

Conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy have been a part of American culture since soon after the shooting, and, to a lesser extent, so have alternative theories about RFK’s death, so all publicly available documents related to both Kennedy assassinations have been pored over extensively by generations of amateur researchers and historians. But public interest in conspiracies surrounding the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. hasn’t been as prevalent, and could provide the biggest revelations—should the files related to the assassination actually see the light of day.

Members of the King family have long maintained that the official story— King was gunned down by petty criminal James Earl Ray—is bunk, pointing to the FBI’s long-running surveillance and harassment campaign against King and other discrepancies in the evidence surrounding the killing. In 1979, United States House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that “there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of Dr King.”

It happens every year: The weather warms up, the plants start sprouting, and suddenly it’s spring—and time to clean up after a few months of hibernation. The concept of spring cleaning is pretty popular, and for good reason: Scrubbing and decluttering offer a range of benefits, from lowering stress and boosting your mood to simple physical exercise. Plus, the chances are good that your home needs it.

For most people, the phrase “spring cleaning” brings to mind dusting and vacuuming the interior of the house. That’s a big part of it, of course, but you shouldn’t neglect the exterior of your house (or your car!), which has taken a beating during thse cold, snowy months. Now’s the time to gear up and plan an exterior spring cleaning to get the outside of your house in shape.

Inspect and repair

The first step of an exterior spring cleaning is an inspection to discover damage and other problems that need addressing:

• Examine the exterior walls. Cracks, rust, or warping in siding or stucco will need to be repaired before they turn into a leak. If you see brown, red, black, or green spots, that’s a sign of mildew that will need to be cleaned off.

• Look for nests or pest damage. Look for insect nests or holes and other entry points for rodents, carpenter ants, and other pests. Nests will need to be removed (be careful when dealing with stinging insects like hornets) and holes will need to be sealed up—but make sure nothing is living in your walls before you do, or you’ll have a smell problem in short order.

• Inspect the roof. Signs that your roof needs attention (even if you haven’t noticed an active leak) include missing shingles, obvious mold growth, ponding water, and cracks or visible sagging. You should also look for cracked flashing or gaps that need caulking.

• Inspect decks. Look for warped or cracked planks, loose screws, or other damage.

If you see any holes, cracks, or other damage, make repairs as necessary before you do any actual cleaning.

Clear away debris

Once you’ve assessed any damage or pest infiltration, your next step is to clear away the debris that built up during the cold weather, before it becomes a haven for pests, a barrier to drainage, and a really ugly scene once the sun starts shining again. A few things to do include:

• Rake up leaves that have been rotting under snowcover for a few months.

• Remove dead branches, cobwebs, and any trash that winter storms might have blown up against your house.

• Clean out the gutters and downspouts. It’s also a good idea to run a hose up to the gutters and test the water flow to make sure there isn’t a blockage somewhere.

• Clean off the roof—remove any branches or other debris up there. If you’re (understandably) not thrilled to climb up there, a roof rake can get the job done for you.

Wash your house

Once you’ve got the debris cleared away, it’s time to wash the house. While a pressure washer can be useful, you don’t necessarily need one—you can purchase an attachment that will turn your garden hose into an effective pressure washer, as well as attachments that turn it into a spray cleaner. A few places to focus on:

• Walls. If your siding or stucco has mildew or other dirt, wash it with a bleach-free cleaning solution that’s marked safe for plants (like this one). You might need a soft brush or sponge to scrub some areas.

• Decks and patios. If you’ve got a wood or composite deck or patio area, a good pressure wash can have it looking like new.

• Driveway. A pressure washer or garden hose with a washer attachment can do wonders. Use a driveway cleaning solution for any stains that have cropped up during the winter.

• Outdoor furniture. Even if it was covered or left inside the garage all winter, your patio set needs a brisk cleaning and inspecting for insects or damage.

• Roof. Once you’ve removed debris and made repairs, you only need to clean your roof if it shows obvious signs of mold, mildew, or other stuff growing on it. You can buy roof-cleaning solutions that attach to your hose to make this job a lot easier.

• Chimney. This is the perfect time to take a look at your chimney and give it a good cleaning (or hire someone to clean it for you).

• Windows and doors. Your windows have probably collected a lot of dirt over the winter, so take a moment to clean them with an outdoor glass cleaning solution. You should also clean the screens, which can get plenty dusty over time.