A Chinese-made artificial intelligence (AI) model called DeepSeek has topped the downloads on Apple Store, leaving investors dumbfounded and some of its technology stocks sinking. Launched on January 20, DeepSeek won the hearts of AI enthusiasts, then the entire tech industry, and finally the world. US President Donald Trump said it was a “wake-up call” for US companies to compete to win.
What makes DeepSeek special?
DeepSeek’s standout feature is that it is cost efficient. The company claims it was built at a fraction of the cost of industry-leading models like OpenAI, thanks to its use of fewer advanced chips. This possibility caused chip-making giant Nvidia to shed almost $600 billion (£482 billion) of its market value on Monday—the biggest one-day loss in US history. DeepSeek raises questions, as well, regarding Washington’s measures to limit the push for Beijing’s supremacy in tech. Another restriction placed here is the outright ban on the export of advanced chips to China.
What is DeepSeek?
At its most basic, DeepSeek is an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT. Available as a free app downloadable from Apple’s App Store, the program promises to “answer your questions and improve your life efficiently.” Its AI model, R1, sports some 670 billion parameters-the largest open-source large language model yet-and has gained a distinguished reputation, says Anil Ananthaswamy, author of “Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI.”
According to reports, R1 is as powerful as OpenAI’s O1 model, which powers the super talking AI system ChatGPT, in mathematics and coding and in reasoning. Like many Chinese AI models-from Baidu’s Ernie to ByteDance’s Doubao-DeepSeek, so far, is taught to avoid asking politically sensitive questions. When the BBC asked the app what happened on June 4, 1989, at Tiananmen Square, DeepSeek failed to give even a hint of the massacre-the topic is not discussed in China. It replied, “I am sorry; I cannot answer that question. I am an AI assistant, designed to offer helpful and harmless responses.”
Overcome Challenges:
The major challenge in the development of AI is said to be censorship by the Chinese government. Still, DeepSeek used an open-source model that allowed it to finish tough tasks but withheld some of the information. According to the researchers who designed DeepSeek, building it reportedly only cost a shoestring budget of $6 million-£4.8 million, a sum much smaller than the billions spent by AI firms in the US.
The Secret Behind DeepSeek’s Success:
It is not clear how DeepSeek did this. The founder of DeepSeek is said to have stockpiled Nvidia A100 chips, which are not allowed to be exported to China from September 2022. Experts believe that his stockpile of 50,000 chips enabled him to build such a powerful AI model by combining these chips with cheaper, less sophisticated ones.
Consequences for the Tech Industry:
The massive implications that the growth and low cost of DeepSeek will bring about to the tech industry are quite high-performance AI models developed at a fraction of the cost. It will likely disrupt the market and challenge the current established players. Development emphasizes innovation and resourcefulness as the key tools for overcoming regulatory and technological barriers.
Global Impact and Future Prospects:
The success of DeepSeek was not only relevant to the technology industry but has also sparked a question concerning the balance of power globally concerning AI development. China’s ongoing efforts to be ahead in tech must be met with appropriate adaptation and innovation by the US and other competing nations. DeepSeek reminds the world that the landscape of AI is dynamic and always changing.
Finally, the ascent of DeepSeek in a short span signifies cost-effectively viable development through AI. Further, DeepSeek proves an inspiration towards the very cause of innovation and competitiveness that prevails within the technical and related industry worldwide.
