
TL;DR: AI wearables are making virtual assistants more personal, DeepSeek proves AI innovation doesn’t require deep pockets, and the Stargate Project could make enterprise-level AI affordable for small businesses. Meanwhile, AI-assisted content gets a legal update—human creativity is still key to copyright protection.
Written by Drew Schmitz with help from Claude Sonnet3.5
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, tech’s biggest annual showcase in Las Vegas, spotlighted how AI is shifting from our mobiles to our bodies. Leading this wearable revolution is the affordable Bee AI, which transcribes every chinwag into instant action items and to-do lists, while Omi’s thought-reading technology promises to execute tasks before you even speak up. For small business owners drowning in meetings and to-do lists, these wearables could be the equivalent of hiring a virtual assistant for a bargain. While privacy worries exist around constant audio monitoring, the prospect of never missing a client request or forgetting a task again might make these AI mates essential tools for busy entrepreneurs looking to stay competitive in an increasingly AI-powered world.
Speaking of AI becoming more accessible, the tech world got a massive shake-up when DeepSeek, a Chinese AI app built for just $5.6 million, proved you don’t need deep pockets to create cutting-edge AI that rivals industry giants. While the app’s success sent some tech stocks tumbling, it’s actually brilliant news for Aussie small businesses – it signals that AI development is becoming more affordable and accessible than ever. The open-source nature of DeepSeek means we’ll likely see a flood of innovative, budget-friendly AI tools built on its foundation, giving small businesses more options beyond the usual tech giants. For business owners concerned about privacy or bias, you’ve got options: either test-drive the tech through trusted platforms like Perplexity or wait for the wave of transparent, community-driven AI tools that will inevitably emerge from DeepSeek’s open-source approach.
This push for accessibility has reached new heights with an unprecedented collaboration between the United States government and tech heavyweights OpenAI, Oracle, Microsoft, and NVIDIA in the newly announced Stargate Project – a $500 billion tech moonshot set to revolutionise how small businesses access AI. This historic public-private partnership signals a future of more powerful and budget-friendly AI models. While they’re building massive data centres across America, starting in Abilene, Texas, the real game-changer is how this shared infrastructure will drive down costs and boost AI capabilities for small businesses. For business owners keen on AI transformation but worried about costs, the Stargate Project’s nationwide network could be the breakthrough that makes enterprise-level AI tools finally within reach for the average business.
With infrastructure sorted through the Stargate Project, the next big question for small businesses was how to protect their AI-assisted creations as the U.S. Copyright Office draws a clear line in the sand, and Australia’s National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC) watches closely. While you can’t slap a copyright on content purely generated by AI, the new U.S. rules give a green light to entrepreneurs who cleverly blend AI assistance with human creativity. Think of AI as your creative assistant rather than your replacement – as long as your human touch is clearly visible in the final product, you’re still eligible for copyright protection, with the NAIC expected to establish guidelines for Aussie creators.
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