The Article Tells The Story of:
- DeepSeek, China’s AI chatbot app, is shaking the global AI race, challenging U.S. dominance.
- Its powerful models outperform rivals like GPT-4o and Meta’s Llama.
- Despite efficiency claims, DeepSeek’s ties to China’s regulations spark controversy.
- The app’s rapid rise has forced tech giants to cut prices, but its future remains uncertain amid growing bans.
What is DeepSeek AI?
DeepSeek is an AI chatbot app developed by a Chinese company, quickly becoming popular in the AI market. The app climbed to the top of the Apple App Store and Google Play Store charts in 2024, making headlines worldwide. DeepSeek’s advanced AI models have sparked debates about whether the U.S. can maintain its lead in artificial intelligence.
Check Out Our Article of DeepSeek Shakes AI Industry: Open Model Sparks Global Debate Published on January 27, 2025 SquaredTech
How Did DeepSeek Start?
DeepSeek is backed by High-Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese hedge fund that uses AI for stock trading. The fund was co-founded by Liang Wenfeng in 2015 and shifted its focus to AI-based trading in 2019. In 2023, High-Flyer established DeepSeek as a separate AI lab to work on language models and AI tools.
Despite being a new player, DeepSeek quickly built its own data center clusters for model training. However, U.S. export bans on high-end AI chips forced DeepSeek to use Nvidia H800 chips — a slower version of the H100 chips available to U.S. companies.
Breakthrough AI Models
DeepSeek launched its first models in November 2023 — DeepSeek Coder, DeepSeek LLM, and DeepSeek Chat. However, the company grabbed global attention in 2024 with its DeepSeek-V2 model family, which performed better and at lower costs than many competitors. This forced companies like ByteDance and Alibaba to lower their AI service prices.
Check Out Our Article of OpenAI Chief Calls DeepSeek’s R1 Model a Game-Changer in AI Published on January 29, 2025 SquaredTech
In December 2024, DeepSeek released DeepSeek-V3, which outperformed popular models like Meta’s Llama and OpenAI’s GPT-4o on key benchmarks. The app’s latest model, DeepSeek R1, launched in January 2025, specializes in reasoning tasks. It fact-checks its own responses, making it more reliable for science, math, and physics queries.
Why is DeepSeek Controversial?
Despite its technical strength, DeepSeek faces scrutiny. As a Chinese-developed AI, its chatbot must comply with China’s internet regulations, which restrict responses on sensitive topics like Tiananmen Square and Taiwan’s independence.
Additionally, several countries like South Korea and New York state have banned DeepSeek on government devices, citing concerns about foreign influence and data security.
Disruptive Pricing Strategy
DeepSeek offers its models at extremely low prices, often undercutting major competitors. Some services are even provided for free. This pricing model has helped DeepSeek gain users quickly, but some experts doubt whether the company’s efficiency claims are accurate.
Check Out Our Article of DeepSeek’s Rise: How a Chinese AI Lab is Disrupting Global Tech Giants Published on January 30, 2025 SquaredTech
Global Recognition and Future
DeepSeek’s rise has shaken the AI industry. The company’s breakthroughs reportedly caused Nvidia’s stock price to drop by 18% in early 2025. Microsoft added DeepSeek to its Azure AI Foundry service, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged DeepSeek’s impact on AI infrastructure spending.
Check Out Our Article of Italy Blocks Chinese AI App DeepSeek Over Privacy Concerns Published on February 5, 2025 SquaredTech
Despite the controversy, developers have embraced DeepSeek’s models. Over 500 derivative models have been built on Hugging Face, with more than 2.5 million downloads.
Final Thoughts
DeepSeek is emerging as a powerful AI competitor, challenging established players like OpenAI and Meta. Its rise raises questions about AI regulation, global tech competition, and the future of the AI industry. Whether DeepSeek will maintain its momentum or face further bans remains uncertain, but its disruptive influence is already reshaping the AI landscape.
Check Out Our Article of OpenAI Chief Calls DeepSeek’s R1 Model a Game-Changer in AI Published on January 29, 2025 SquaredTech
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