As a native, it’s always fun to brag to people that the relatively unsung hero city of the space program was Huntsville. Yes, the rockets that brought man to the moon launched in Florida, but a lot of the science, math, technology, and stolen Nazi scientists were from right here in Alabama! NASA has had a strong presence ever since, and we have grown into one of the largest centers of government contracting in the United States. It’s very exciting that we’ll finally be going back to the moon in the near future.

However, the advent of AI has shifted not just our ability to send emails and write school papers. It’s quickly changing the entire work landscape. Only a little more than a year ago, an AI executive order by President Biden laid out a framework for the government to begin some AI implementations. Now, with that revoked by President Trump, it’s likely that a much more aggressive plan for AI will be implemented, focusing on efficiency and workforce readjustment. Huntsville now has to keep in mind that the millions of dollars we are paid to write contracts, fill out spreadsheets, and troubleshoot code will not be the billable hours of a near future. Are we ready to see a shift like this?

That might have been enough to worry about. But imagine that NASA was preparing to get to the moon in the next few years. Suddenly, tomorrow you see China broadcasting that they got to the moon with less fuel and cost then anyone had projected, with technology that might be scrappy yet a fraction of the cost that NASA was projecting. That is the equivalent of what happened with DeepSeek.

Now, if you’ve been under a rock, DeepSeek is a Chinese-funded AI research lab that has performed incredible benchmarks with its R1 model and rocketed to the top of the Apple App Store. Their claim of incredibly low cost has yet to be proven. However, China pulled a “Sputnik” on us. They created AI tech in a completely different way, and it works!

The news wrecked our stock market for a few days. It has shaken up the model that ‘more compute’ means better AI. Highly valued companies like OpenAI were scrambling to release features to offset the news. Nvidia was frantically trying to explain the value of its chips. That’s at least what it all felt like for about a week, and by the time you read this, maybe it’s calm or maybe it’s not. That’s not the point I hope to drive home.

What’s Huntsville going to do about all of this? What are you going to do about it? While it’s easy to keep saying, “It will eventually calm down after a while,” that seems to become a moot point after saying it over and over for the last two years. Natural disaster and elections and entertainment drama aside, the news is constantly buzzing with something new in AI.

As Huntsville citizens, we know the potential of our city and people. We have one of the highest Ph.D.s per capita in the nation and the second largest research park (the other thing we like to throw in). We’ve even won Best Place to Live!

However, I frequently run into people who call it ChatGTP. If you see nothing wrong with that, you are who I’m talking about. The advent of AI is NOT “like the internet.” AI has improved as if we went from no internet to high speed in just five years. Also, stop referring to the internet as something “relatively” new. It turned 40 years old in 2023!

As the Chinese Sputnik shoots over our heads here in Huntsville, what will we do about it? What can or should we do? I’ve spent a lot of time with the Mayor’s AI Task Force, which will soon be releasing more details about its work, name, and functions. We’ve learned that many organizations are experimenting with AI both in and out of the government. Yet, the vast majority of companies in Huntsville, and likely many other communities, are greatly lacking in 3 major areas:

The Education System: Schools and Universities
Workforce Education: Employee Training
Commercial Integrations: Product and Service Development

Which of those are you involved with in your day to day work? Where do you think you could be a catalyst for change? Of course, it starts with your own training and practice, but it takes others pointing to the stars and saying, “We might not be flying yet, but we’ll fly farther.” The can-do attitude of catching up and innovation is what excites me about the United States and the city of Huntsville.

Though Benz may have driven first, Ford is the one who truly replaced the horse.

Though the first bulbs glowed in England, Edison is the one who lit up the world.

Though Sputnik reached space first, Apollo is what carried humanity to the moon.

Though DeepSeek may have changed the AI concept… the next is up to all of us.

I believe in us. I believe in you, fellow Huntsville citizens. Do great things!