A surprise advance in technology. In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik 1, the first space satellite and caught the world off guard, especially the United States. Sputnik caused the U.S. to move quickly with its own satellite development and the first American satellite was launched a year later. Also in 1958, President Eisenhower authorized the formation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), later renamed Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (see
DARPA).
DeepSeek Was a Sputnik Moment
When China unveiled its DeepSeek chatbot in 2024, it was said to be a Sputnik moment because the U.S. did not think such an advanced AI model could cost so little to develop. See
DeepSeek.