By Seyi Babalola
DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, has launched its latest AI models, which it claims are on par or better than industry-leading models in the United States at a quarter of the cost, threatening to disrupt the technological world order.
The startup gained notice in global AI circles after claiming in a report last month that training DeepSeek-V3 cost less than $6 million in computational power from Nvidia H800 chips.
DeepSeek’s AI Assistant, powered by DeepSeek-V3, has overtaken rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple’s App Store in the United States.
This has raised doubts about the reasoning behind some U.S. tech companies’ decision to pledge billions of dollars in AI investment and shares of several big tech players, including Nvidia, have been hit.
Daily Sun brings you 7 things to know about the Chinese AI disruptor:
1. Deepseek is a Chinese firm that launched in 2023. It immediately became known for creating high-performing, open-source AI models.
Unlike many AI models hidden by huge corporations, DeepSeek’s models are openly available for others to use and improve, encouraging a more collaborative and open approach to AI development.
DeepSeek’s strategy challenges the established AI landscape by making advanced AI models more accessible and affordable.
2. DeepSeek just launched a reasoning model named R1. DeepSeek-R1 is a ground-breaking reasoning model that demonstrates a considerable advancement in AI capabilities, notably in complicated reasoning tasks.
Reasoning models attempt to emulate human cognitive abilities such as deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning.
R1 excels in mathematics, coding, and problem-solving, having been trained using advanced approaches such as reinforcement learning. It frequently outperforms other leading AI models.
3. DeepSeek’s success has already been noticed in China’s top political circles. On January 20, the day DeepSeek-R1 was released to the public, founder Liang attended a closed-door symposium for businessmen and experts hosted by Chinese premier Li Qiang, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Liang’s presence at the gathering is potentially a sign that DeepSeek’s success could be important to Beijing’s policy goal of overcoming Washington’s export controls and achieving self-sufficiency in strategic industries like AI.
4. DeepSeek R1 is open-source
Notably, R1 is open-source (i.e. free), which means the technology is accessible to anyone, from researchers and developers to AI hobbyists.
By making the model’s code and architecture publicly available, DeepSeek encourages experimentation, collaboration, and rapid innovation within the AI community.
5. R1 could potentially rival OpenAI’s performance.
DeepSeek-R1 demonstrates extraordinary innovation by competing with OpenAI’s o1 in tasks such as reasoning, coding, and math—all at a fraction of the cost.
DeepSeek has significantly lowered computational costs by up to 95% by utilizing pure reinforcement learning and optimized training methodologies.
6. In a short time, DeepSeek R1 has disrupted the US tech market
DeepSeek’s R1 has triggered a sell-off on AI-related stocks in the US tech market, triggering a sell-off in AI-related stocks.
The release of the resource-efficient AI model has raised concerns about the future demand from major players, potentially impacting their revenue and stock prices.
The AI model’s open source also challenges the dominance of US tech giants. Adding to the turmoil, DeepSeek has faced large-scale cyberattacks, temporarily limiting user registrations and highlighting the security vulnerabilities associated with advanced AI systems.
This has thrown US tech stocks into a bit of a frenzy, with investors trying to figure out how R1 will shake things up and what it means for the future of AI.
7. Trump calls China’s DeepSeek AI leap a ‘wake-up call’ for US tech
US President Donald Trump has called Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s strong showing a “wake-up call” and “positive” for America’s tech sector and also warned that he would slap tariffs on foreign-made semiconductor chips, including those made by Taiwan’s TSMC if they do not start producing them stateside.