DeepSeek is the talk of the world right now.
The AI chatbot app quickly rose to number one on the Apple App Store, causing excitement and some worries in the tech world.
Things got even more interesting when DeepSeek’s rise was linked to the drop in NVIDIA’s share price.
Well, the reasons for the fall can be many but its correlation indeed lit a wildfire of thrill and curiosity.
And when Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, even praised DeepSeek, especially for what they’re able to offer at such a low price. It grabbed the attention of many worldwide.
“A Chinese-made artificial intelligence (AI) model called DeepSeek has shot to the top of Apple Store's downloads, stunning investors and sinking some tech stocks.
Its latest version was released on 20 January, quickly impressing AI experts before it got the attention of the entire tech industry - and the world.
US President Donald Trump said it was a "wake-up call" for US companies who must focus on "competing to win".
What makes DeepSeek so special is the company's claim that it was built at a fraction of the cost of industry-leading models like OpenAI - because it uses fewer advanced chips.
That possibility caused chip-making giant Nvidia to shed almost $600bn (£482bn) of its market value on Monday - the biggest one-day loss in US history.” — Reported by BBC
DeepSeek’s journey so far is unlike that of some other AI tools solely focused on the next marvel of AI or the debate between AI and humans.
It has deep ties to a Chinese hedge fund, High-Flyer Capital Management, raising a series of censorship questions.
Moreover, its meteoric rise and aggressive pricing have opened war rooms and given AI and tech giants reasons to ponder.
In this article, I will share how it is about to change the AI landscape.
From Quant Trading to AI Research
Let’s check out DeepSeek’s journey—how something that started with the purpose of AI trading shook the world with its new avatar, DeepSeek R1.
DeepSeek: From Hedge Fund to AI Powerhouse
Origins & Expansion
DeepSeek started as an AI-powered trading tool with support from High-Flyer Capital, a Chinese hedge fund. In 2023, it became an independent AI research lab, growing quickly while staying connected to its parent company.
It was founded by Liang Wenfeng, who started exploring trading algorithms while studying at Zhejiang University.
Breakthrough AI Models
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Early Models (2023): DeepSeek Coder, LLM, and Chat—useful but not groundbreaking.
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DeepSeek-V2 (2024): A powerful, cost-effective text and image model that forced rivals to cut AI pricing.
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DeepSeek-V3 (Dec 2024): Surpassed leading AI models like GPT-4o and Llama with unmatched efficiency.
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DeepSeek R1 (Jan 2025): A reasoning-focused model that self-verifies answers, excelling in complex fields like science and math. It’s the talk of the world now!
Innovation & Efficiency
DeepSeek has a young and diverse team, hiring top AI researchers and experts from different fields to improve its models.
It uses Nvidia H800 GPUs and develops AI that runs efficiently, keeping costs low while ensuring optimum performance. This very fact has sparked controversies and debate on whether the restricted US technology has been shared or not.
Disrupting the AI Market
DeepSeek’s cost-effective, high-performing AI models have reshaped the industry, challenging giants like OpenAI.
Its chatbot app even surpassed ChatGPT as the top free app on Apple’s App Store, signaling a major shift in AI dominance.
This sudden success has shattered the perception that smaller AI companies couldn't compete with tech giants, disproving OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's assertion that such competition was "hopeless".
DeepSeek's breakthrough highlights the potential for more cost-effective and efficient AI development, potentially accelerating widespread adoption of AI technologies.
The Censorship Controversy
As a China-developed AI, DeepSeek follows government rules. Its chatbot, R1, avoids politically sensitive topics like Tiananmen Square, aligning with China’s Core Socialist Values.
DeepSeek’s USP: Unusual Pricing Strategy
Ultra-Low Pricing—Or No Pricing at All
DeepSeek has disrupted the AI market by offering drastically lower prices and even free services. The company claims its AI efficiency allows it to sustain these ultra-low costs.
Skepticism vs. Rapid Adoption
While some experts question DeepSeek’s cost claims, its models are gaining traction. On Hugging Face, over 500 derivative models of R1 have been downloaded 2.5 million times.
API Pricing: A Market Disruptor
DeepSeek’s API is far cheaper than OpenAI’s:
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$0.55 per million input tokens vs. OpenAI’s $15
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$2.19 per million output tokens vs. OpenAI’s $60
For general chatbot users, DeepSeek’s app and website remain completely free.
DeepSeek’s low-cost, censorship-controlled AI is shaking up the industry—sparking both mass adoption and heated debates.
Check the following page for more DeepSeek's pricing details and comparison.
Going Head-to-Head with ChatGPT
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Features
DeepSeek is a streamlined, user-friendly chatbot with a powerful search engine. Unlike some others, it intentionally focuses on text-based interactions and doesn’t have image generation or specialized creative tools (e.g. “ChatGPT Canvas”).
Chatbot Models
DeepSeek-V3
Purpose: A jack of all trades model. Key Strength: Balanced for casual conversation, general knowledge and everyday problem solving.
DeepSeek R1 (DeepThink)
Purpose: A more specialized model for multi-step tasks. Key Strength: Great for math, science and complex reasoning, but slower processing.
By having a general purpose model (DeepSeek-V3) and a reasoning-intensive model (R1), DeepSeek can offer a chatbot experience that matches users’ needs—quick answers and casual chat or deep problem solving.
ChatGPT: Offers more bells and whistles (e.g., image uploads with advanced analysis, subscription plans with multiple model choices, and integration with third-party tools).
Search Capabilities
Both DeepSeek and ChatGPT now support a conversational search function.
DeepSeek’s search is built into the chatbot—just click or tap “Search” and continue the conversation. ChatGPT organizes its search results with more clarity and provides a sidebar for citations. DeepSeek’s approach is simpler and slightly less organized.
In simple terms, DeepSeek R1 is a math genius, and great with science and computing. However, ChatGPT is a multi-talented artist and writer who can code and solve math problems as well.
Who Should Switch?
If your needs revolve around everyday prompts, coding, or fact-finding—and you don’t mind missing advanced add-ons—DeepSeek’s free chatbot might suffice.
But if you rely on uploading images for analysis or want specialized GPT tools, ChatGPT remains ahead.
You can use both: one as a spoon and the other as a fork.
Privacy and Security Concerns
Data Privacy Worries
Given its Chinese ownership, some security experts and the general public have raised concerns that user data could be exposed to the Chinese government. DeepSeek’s stance: user data is secure, and they use data centers in the United States and Europe for model hosting whenever possible outside China.
Integration with Perplexity AI and the Backlash
Perplexity AI Partnership
San Francisco-based Perplexity AI has added DeepSeek R1 for Pro users.
Censorship Concerns
Some users raised concerns about potential censorship or data funneling to the Chinese government, assuming DeepSeek's Chinese version was involved. Perplexity's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, clarified on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter), stating:
“All DeepSeek usage in Perplexity is through models hosted in data centers in the USA and Europe. DeepSeek is open-source. None of your data goes to China.”
He reiterated what DeepSeek claimed.
Microsoft has integrated DeepSeek's R1
Microsoft has also integrated DeepSeek's R1 artificial intelligence model into its Azure AI Foundry platform and GitHub.
DeepSeek R1 is now listed on Azure AI Foundry and GitHub, joining a large collection of over 1,800 AI models. By being part of Azure AI Foundry, DeepSeek R1 can run on Microsoft’s secure, scalable, and enterprise-ready platform. This will surely help businesses easily add advanced AI capabilities while meeting service level agreements (SLAs), security standards, and responsible AI requirements.
Uncensoring the Model
While DeepSeek’s public models may restrict certain political topics, a self-hosted setup allows developers to remove these limitations.
Screenshots shared by Srinivas show DeepSeek R1 running uncensored within Perplexity’s infrastructure.
Malicious Attacks and Outages
DeepSeek has experienced malicious attacks leading to service interruptions. To manage demand, they’ve restricted who can sign up at times. Users eager to test the free chatbot may occasionally see “high demand” error messages.
And many times, it’s not working!
How DeepSeek’s R1 can help small tech companies
Cost efficiency: AI experimentation and scaling is more affordable now. It costs $2.19 per million tokens compared to $60 of OpenAI.
Democratization: Model and code is open source. Open source accelerates AI progress and global collaboration.
Innovation: Lower cost and access means diverse teams can experiment, share ideas and build solutions that were previously out of reach.
Can deepseek create images?
Yes, DeepSeek’s Janus-Pro-7B model can both read and write images, a more affordable alternative to DALL-E 3. Autoregressive design processes text and images in separate streams but in one transformer. Trained on 72 million images, it’s great at color, attribute alignment and object positioning but not human anatomy.
Runs at 384×384 and can scale up to 768×768. MIT licensed, commercial and academic use.
Meta Assembling War Rooms to Counter DeepSeek's AI
Meta has formed four specialized teams to respond to the challenge posed by DeepSeek’s progress in AI. These teams are focused on:
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Analyzing how DeepSeek lowers AI development costs
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Investigating the sources of DeepSeek’s training data
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Exploring possible updates to Llama’s design
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Improving Meta’s AI products, including Llama 4
This move shows Meta's commitment to AI innovation, reducing costs, and staying ahead of new competitors in the rapidly changing AI field.
Looking Ahead
DeepSeek’s rapid climb—culminating in its chatbot hitting number one on the iPhone App Store—has demonstrated just how swiftly AI upstarts can reshape the market. While its next generation of models is almost inevitable, questions remain:
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Will U.S. chip export restrictions tighten further?
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How will DeepSeek address global censorship concerns?
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Can DeepSeek’s ultra-low-cost strategy sustain itself?
What is clear is that DeepSeek, backed by a resourceful hedge fund and a young, ambitious engineering team, has introduced fierce new competition to entrenched AI giants. Whether DeepSeek can maintain its momentum under growing scrutiny is a story unfolding in real time—one that promises to shape the conversation around AI, regulation, and data security in the months and years to come.
DeepSeek Terms of Use
DeepSeek is an AI. By using it, you agree to the rules. You must be 18+ or have guardian consent, keep your login private and do not post illegal or harmful content. DeepSeek is not responsible for AI errors. They can suspend your account for violations.
Check the full DeepsSeek's Terms of Use here.
DeepSeek’s Privacy Policy
DeepSeek collects your name, email, chat inputs, device data and cookies. Data is used to improve services, prevent fraud and comply with laws and may be shared with providers, partners or authorities, stored in China. You can always access or delete your data if allowed by law. This service is not for users under 18 without permission and data will be retained as needed.
Check the full DeepsSeek's Privacy Policy here.
Want to Learn More?
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Try DeepSeek: Visit DeepSeek.com or download the app for iOS/Android.
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Check Out Perplexity AI: Explore how they integrate multiple models, including DeepSeek R1, for Pro users.
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Upcoming Tech Event: TechCrunch All Stage 2025 in Boston on July 17. Stay tuned for potential DeepSeek announcements.
DeepSeek may have seemed to appear overnight, but its roots run deep in AI research and disruptive pricing. Whether you view it as the next big thing or a cautionary tale about data privacy, there’s no denying it has already changed the AI landscape—and it’s just getting started.
No matter who wins or comes first, we’re the ultimate winners. For us users, it means more options, better output, and cost efficiency.
So, congratulations to us all!
And if you wish to integrate AI and need any assistance with managing AI tools or require AI-powered outputs, be it task automation, video, audio and text generation, we’re just a message away!