Project Stargate: $500b datacenter (1.7% of US GDP) and Gemini 2 Flash Thinking 2

**Project Stargate**, a US "AI Manhattan project" led by **OpenAI** and **Softbank**, supported by **Oracle**, **Arm**, **Microsoft**, and **NVIDIA**, was announced with a scale comparable to the original Manhattan project costing **$35B inflation adjusted**. Despite Microsoft's reduced role as exclusive compute partner, the project is serious but not immediately practical. Meanwhile, **Noam Shazeer** revealed a second major update to **Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking**, enabling **1M token long context** usable immediately. Additionally, **AI Studio** introduced a new **code interpreter** feature. On Reddit, **DeepSeek R1**, a distillation of **Qwen 32B**, was released for free on **HuggingChat**, sparking discussions on self-hosting, performance issues, and quantization techniques. DeepSeek's CEO **Liang Wenfeng** highlighted their focus on **fundamental AGI research**, efficient **MLA architecture**, and commitment to **open-source development** despite export restrictions, positioning DeepSeek as a potential alternative to closed-source AI trends.