Technology

➚ MOVE FAST: Open up. China’s DeepSeek said it would make five code repositories publicly available next week, reflecting its commitment to open-source models. That differs from other Chinese AI firms and aligns it with Meta’s approach, making it a bigger competitor to Mark Zuckerberg’s firm.

➘ BREAK THINGS: Take down. The US Federal Trade Commission wants to hear from users who feel they’ve been censored by tech platforms, saying such conduct may have “violated the law.” It’s another example of how the Trump administration’s lovefest with Silicon Valley may not be as warm as it seems.

Now we’re talking. Nvidia launched a new AI-backed platform, called Signs, to help people learn and communicate through American Sign Language.

The platform, built in partnership with the American Society for Deaf Children and creative agency Hello Monday, uses an AI tool that tells users how well they’re signing via a webcam while a 3D avatar demonstrates the signs. The interactions will also help build an open-source video dataset for ASL. Nvidia says it’s aiming to gather 400,000 video clips representing 1,000 signed words, validated by ASL human experts.

American Sign Language is the third most commonly used language in the US, next to English and Spanish, according to Nvidia, so a fully capable AI assistant could have a profound impact. There are other AI-supported platforms for sign language training and communication, like SignForDeaf, Signapse, and Hand Talk, but most are limited in the number of hand signs and languages that can be interpreted.

Nvidia says its Signs platform will provide an initial set of 100 signs to teach ASL to users during the data collection phase. The AI is primarily being trained on hand movements and finger positions for each sign, but Nvidia is exploring how to incorporate facial expressions and head movements into future versions.

How corporations plan to use bunkers to secure data (and their CEOs)

Large corporations are shopping for underground bunkers that can survive a nuclear blast to protect their data centers and C-suite employees as geopolitical tensions rise. The first adopters are primarily cryptocurrency firms, companies that build the facilities told Semafor.

Larry Hall, owner of Kansas-based Survival Condo, said he recently priced an underground data center and executive suite space to a crypto company for $64 million. Survival Condo counts eight companies in the planning stages of building bunkers, three of which are competing to purchase an existing 150,000-square-foot facility in Kansas serving the same purpose — a project started by a Big Oil billionaire who died before it was completed.

The pitch is the apocalypse. “The nuclear clock is moving closer to midnight,” Hall intoned in a telephone interview from the company’s Kansas bunker facility, a 54,000-square-foot residential space outfitted with a rock wall and hydroponics farm. “The more worries there are in the headline news, the more people look for solutions.”

Part of the heightened appeal for bunkers is the ever-growing value of data. The company Iron Mountain, which now describes itself as an information management firm, got its start offering secure storage in a depleted iron ore mine to banks amid the first wave of nuclear fears in the 1950s. (The television show Mr. Robot includes an anarchist attack on its fictional doppelgänger in the hopes of wiping the global financial slate clean.)

Iron Mountain now rents out 330,000 square feet of data center space in a former Pennsylvania limestone mine, serving finance, government, and healthcare industries, according to its website. It also stores government employee retirement papers — a practice recently targeted by Elon Musk’s DOGE as outdated.

Semafor is hosting its critical and timely live journalism summit “Innovating to Restore Trust in News” in Washington, DC on Feb. 27. This unprecedented gathering of the most influential minds in media aims to address the crisis of trust in journalism and the role industry leaders play.

Semafor editors and reporters will be joined by various leading voices, including: Bret Baier, Chief Political Anchor, Anchor & Executive Editor of Special Report with Bret Baier, FOX News Channel; Brendan Carr, Chairman, FCC; Cesar Conde, Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group; Mehdi Hasan, Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief, Zeteo; Joe Kahn, Executive Editor, The New York Times; Megyn Kelly, Host, The Megyn Kelly Show; Katherine Maher, CEO, NPR; Mark Thompson, Chairman, CEO, CNN Worldwide; and Emma Tucker, Editor-in-Chief, The Wall Street Journal. Join the conversation as it happens live — sign up to attend virtually below.

Feb. 27, 2025 | Washington DC | Register for livestream

That’s how much the European Commission has approved in German aid for Infineon, the country’s largest chipmaker, to build a new semiconductor manufacturing facility. The move helps strengthen Europe’s AI supply chain, making it less reliant on technology from the US and Asia.

There’s a lot for tech companies to be worried about nowadays — government pivots by the new Trump administration, economic uncertainty, competition from China. While those risks often make the headlines, they’re not necessarily top of mind for tech executives. Consulting firm Protiviti surveyed nearly 200 media and tech execs (among more than 1,200 business leaders across different industries) to siphon out the real business risks from the noise. What it found: For the tech sector, cyber threats remain the top concern, but AI adoption concerns closely follow as businesses are fighting to keep up, while still unsure of all the trouble it can bring.

The specific AI risks cited by the tech sector include finding the rare expertise required to build emerging technologies, the speed of disruptive innovations, and developing risks from AI. None of those made the top five list for any other sector, aside from the recognition of unforeseen AI risks, which the nonprofit and higher education industry noted.

Regarding the need for specialized tech talent, Andrew Retrum, a managing director of Protiviti’s tech consulting practice, said it’s “not like [AI] has been around for 20 years and there’s a population of individuals with experience. You’ve got everybody looking for the same set of skills and technical capabilities. That creates the shortage that organizations are struggling with.”

He added, “Those that are best positioned demonstrate the ability to upskill their existing teams as opposed to looking externally for a new set of capabilities.”

Investors must adjust to US climate skepticism under the Trump administration in order to ensure renewable energy continues dominating infrastructure finance in Africa, a private capital industry figure told Semafor’s Alexis Akwagyiram.

“African businesses, investors, and governments must adapt by seeking alternative partnerships,” said Nadia Kouassi Coulibaly, head of research analytics at the African Private Capital Association (AVCA) industry body, pointing to European and Asian investors.

Despite the political shift, “sustainable investing will remain a viable and strategic approach,” she added.