The tech world has been taken by storm this week, and many new developments may be relevant to Australian small-business owners. From Microsoft removing support for Windows 10, to OpenAI and DeepSeek’s arms race to be the most powerful (and cheapest) AI platform, here’s what’s going on.
The rise and fall of DeepSeek
Chinese AI model DeepSeek sent shockwaves around the AI space for its touted capabilities, matching rivals like ChatGPT and Gemini for a fraction of the cost.
DeepSeek’s AI models are open source, meaning that anyone with technical expertise could theoretically use them to help run a business for free without paying licensing fees. This is in contrast to commercial AI models like ChatGPT, which are easier but more expensive to use.
Some small-business owners may have been asking if this new Chinese model would be a more powerful and affordable AI tool – but now that the dust has settled, doubts have set in over the platform’s data privacy.
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs issued a mandatory direction for all Government entities to uninstall and prohibit the use and installation of DeepSeek products, applications, and web services on all Australian Government systems and devices, citing potential security concerns.
“AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity, but the Government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk,” said Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in a statement.
With this action, Australia joins Taiwan, Italy and a growing list of countries that have implemented a DeepSeek ban. DeepSeek might have seemed promising, but if Governments around the world are eschewing this platform, it raises questions as to whether businesses should rely on its services.
OpenAI releases new “CheapGPT”, Deep Research tools
Amid the rapid rise and fall of DeepSeek, OpenAI has launched two new AI products.
The o3-mini promises to provide a cost-effective solution that will make AI more accessible to users. It is designed as an AI reasoning model, meaning it can thoroughly fact-check results before serving to the user.
The Deep Research AI Agent is designed to handle in-depth research and is capable of conducting multi-step research on the internet for complex tasks.
OpenAi’s Deep Reserch is seen to compete with the deep research solution offered by Google’s AI service Gemini, which interestingly is also called Deep Research.
Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 this year
Microsoft is set to end its support for Windows 10 in October 2025.
For small businesses still relying on the system, this means that Microsoft will stop providing security updates, leaving systems exposed to cyber attacks. If the device running Windows 10 also handles customer data, financial records, or sensitive business information, these will be at much greater risk.
If you’re using Windows 10, now is the time to move to a new operating system.
