By Noel J. Guillama-Alvarez
A New World Ahead with AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic everywhere—not just in tech circles, but across casual conversations, investment discussions, and even social events. I recently observed this firsthand when speakers discussing AI were invited to a social club gathering, where polo matches and wealth managers’ talks on investments seamlessly incorporated mentions of DeepSeek, a company that has recently made a significant impact on the AI landscape. If you’ve been around long enough to witness a few technology cycles, you’ll understand that something remarkable is happening. We’re seeing trends unfold before our eyes.
In a previous blog, we suggested that the current AI wave is reminiscent of the development of the Internet back in 1996. That era marked a turning point when the internet, once used primarily by tech enthusiasts, started impacting the real world in meaningful ways. For me, in 1990, it was an email exchange through my local university. Yet, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the internet started infiltrating boardrooms and reshaping businesses. From 1996 to 2001, the internet boomed, building on the productivity gains from personal computers (PCs) of the 1980s. Today, the internet—especially high-speed connections—has transformed everyday life.
To draw a parallel, consider Google. In 1998, it was just a startup in Silicon Valley. I vividly recall being offered the opportunity to invest in Google in 1999, only to dismiss it with something like, “I love and use Yahoo; it can’t possibly be any better.”
Of course, we then saw the dot-com crash in 2000, which hit hard for many. I still remember the financial toll it took on me for several years. However, when we look back, the market potential for these companies was immense, and their valuations, at the time, were undervalued. The graph of the Invesco QQQ ETF, as of this morning, shows the rise and fall of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The market drop of 2000-2001, which persisted until 2003, now appears to be a mere blip on the radar when compared to the overall growth of the QQQ. Amazon’s stock, for instance, fell by around 90% between 2000 and 2003. If you look closely at the stock chart, you can see that significant drop.
I’m not making the case that AI’s rise mirrors the dot-com boom, but we could see a similar surge in AI companies as we saw with Amazon in the late 1990s—an over 5,000% increase in value. The difference, however, is that during the dot-com era, few could have predicted Amazon’s disruptive potential. But today, almost everyone acknowledges that AI will profoundly reshape industries—whether by making the world safer or improving health. I personally lean toward the positive, as most technologies, even the initially frightening ones like nuclear energy, have ultimately benefited humanity.
Back to DeepSeek
In the wake of DeepSeek’s news, governments around the world—from Australia to the United Kingdom—have moved to ban the use of DeepSeek in government offices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is exploring the possibility of a national ban for both government and private use. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal had this headline:
“Oh Dear, Did Someone Steal Something from OpenAI?”
OpenAI is investigating whether DeepSeek used its work to build its model—an ironic twist for a company that’s built much of its technology on, well, other people’s work.
The article went on to discuss allegations that DeepSeek might have learned from OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as well as other large language models (LLMs). At this point, there’s little doubt that it did. Why wouldn’t it?
We believe that LLMs are quickly becoming commoditized and are expanding into AI agents and Agentic AI, which could disrupt their own clients (as we’ve previously noted). Developing AI agents atop LLMs is relatively cheap and easy, with costs running only into the hundreds of dollars. One company claims to service over 400 AI agents. This growth is being driven by the fact that traditional venture capital has largely missed the AI boom—largely because their typical investment model focuses on $500,000 to $1 million checks, while AI requires a bit more capital. The big money has already been spent, but smaller innovators are beginning to aggregate their own data sets.
The risk, however, is that a company like ChatGPT could use its client data to replace AI agents or even Agentic AI for free—replacing them with simple “tools.” Don’t believe me? Just consider this recent announcement from Forbes (January 24, 2025):
“From grocery orders to ticket purchases, OpenAI unveils its $200-a-month ‘Operator.’”
This new AI tool can navigate websites and complete various tasks like online grocery orders, ticket purchases, refund calculations, lecture downloads, and combining PDFs. Though it’s still in development and may make mistakes, OpenAI’s “Operator” marks a significant step forward in AI integration into everyday tasks.
A Word of Caution
I’m not one to give advice—after all, I make plenty of mistakes in the world of innovation. But I’m reminded of the old fable of The Scorpion and the Frog. In the story, the frog agrees to ferry the scorpion across a river, but halfway through, the scorpion stings the frog, dooming both of them. When the frog asks why, knowing the consequences, the scorpion replies:
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my character.”
AI’s Transformative Future for Healthcare and Wellness
There’s much more to say about DeepSeek in the coming weeks, but we remain convinced of their innovative approach, particularly their use of Mixture of Experts (MoE) and minimal hardware dependency. These factors will accelerate AI applications in ways we can’t yet fully comprehend. Just as few could predict the internet’s impact in 1996, the same holds true for AI. We see tremendous potential in healthcare—particularly in fields like radiology, pathology, and genetics. But there’s also an exciting opportunity to harness this technology to directly improve human wellness.
We’re living in extraordinary times, in large part due to technology. It’s not just in our glass office buildings or on our home computers; it’s in our pockets—on our personal communication devices.
About HealthScoreAI ™
Healthcare is at a tipping point, and HealthScoreAI is positioning to revolutionize the industry by giving consumers control over their health data and unlocking its immense value. U.S. healthcare annual spending has exceeded $5 trillion with little improvement in outcomes. Despite advances, technology has failed to reduce costs or improve care. Meanwhile, 3,000 exabytes of consumer health data remain trapped in fragmented USA systems, leaving consumers and doctors without a complete picture of care.
HealthScoreAI seeks to provide a unique solution, acting as a data surrogate for consumers and offering an unbiased holistic view of their health. By monetizing de-identified data, HealthScoreAI seeks to share revenue with consumers, potentially creating a new $100 billion market value opportunity. With near-universal EHR adoption in the USA, and advances in technology, now is the perfect time to capitalize on the data available, practical use of AI and the empowering of consumers, in particular the 13,000 tech savvy baby boomers turning 65 every single day and entering the Medicare system for the first time. Our team, with deep healthcare and tech expertise, holds U.S. patents and a proven track record of scaling companies and leading them to IPO.
Noel J. Guillama-Alvarez
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguillama/
+1-561-904-9477, Ext 355
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/oh-dear-did-someone-steal-something-from-openai-8e8a267c
https://www.forbes.com.au/news/innovation/openaioperator-can-now-order-groceries-make-reservations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/lawmakers-push-to-ban-deepseek-app-from-u-s-government-devices-6a76151a