Global Markets Sent into a Tizzy by Chinese AI Firm

A New AI Model Makes Waves

A Chinese firm called DeepSeek managed to send global markets into a frenzy at the start of the week, dragging down chipmaker Nvidia and surging to No. 1 in the iPhone app store in a remarkably short period of time.

The News Behind the Freakout

In this bonus episode, we delve into the news behind the commotion. How is a new A.I. model from one Chinese A.I. company making such a big splash? And what does it mean for the U.S. artificial intelligence industry?

The Impact on the U.S. AI Industry

The U.S. artificial intelligence industry is likely to feel the effects of DeepSeek’s new A.I. model, which has raised questions about the country’s competitive edge in the field. As the U.S. continues to invest heavily in A.I. research and development, it is crucial to stay ahead of the curve and respond to emerging trends and innovations.

Credits

• "Hard Fork" is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Whitney Jones and Rachel Cohn.
• This episode was edited by Rachel Dry and engineered by Daniel Ramirez.
• Original music by Dan Powell.
• Our executive producer is Jen Poyant.
• Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam, Dahlia Haddad and Jeffrey Miranda.

Conclusion

DeepSeek’s new A.I. model has sent shockwaves through the global markets, highlighting the importance of staying ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. As the U.S. continues to invest in A.I. research and development, it is crucial to respond to emerging trends and innovations to maintain its competitive edge.

FAQs

Q: What is DeepSeek’s new A.I. model?
A: DeepSeek’s new A.I. model is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence system that has been designed to perform a range of tasks, including data analysis and processing.

Q: How did DeepSeek’s new A.I. model affect global markets?
A: DeepSeek’s new A.I. model sent global markets into a frenzy, dragging down chipmaker Nvidia and surging to No. 1 in the iPhone app store.

Q: What does DeepSeek’s new A.I. model mean for the U.S. AI industry?
A: DeepSeek’s new A.I. model has raised questions about the U.S. competitive edge in the field of artificial intelligence, highlighting the importance of staying ahead of the curve and responding to emerging trends and innovations.

The DeepSeek AI

How to Access the DeepSeek Chatbot

Users interested in trying out DeepSeek can access the R1 model through the Chinese startup’s smartphone apps (Android, Apple), as well as on the company’s desktop website. You can also use the model through third-party services like Perplexity Pro. In the app or on the website, click on the DeepThink (R1) button to use the best model. Developers who want to experiment with the API can check out that platform online. It’s also possible to download a DeepSeek model to run locally on your computer.

Is This Basically FreeGPT?

Yes and no! If you’re looking for a free chatbot to use, ChatGPT already includes plenty of free features. So does Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s AI tool. So, why is the fact that DeepSeek is free notable? It’s about the raw power of the model that’s generating these free-for-now answers. As previously mentioned, DeepSeek’s R1 mimics OpenAI’s latest o1 model, without the $20-a-month subscription fee for the basic version and $200-a-month for the most capable model. This comes as a major blow to OpenAI’s attempt to monetize ChatGPT through subscriptions.

A Research Breakthrough, but Still Inaccurate

Though it may almost seem unfair to knock the DeepSeek chatbot for issues common across AI startups, it’s worth dwelling on how a breakthrough in model training efficiency does not even come close to solving the roadblock of hallucinations, where a chatbot just makes things up in its responses to prompts. Many of the outputs I generated included blatant falsehoods, confidently spewed out. For example, when I asked R1 what the model already knew about me without searching the web, the bot was convinced I’m a longtime tech reporter at The Verge. No shade, but not true!

Conclusion

DeepSeek’s R1 model is a significant milestone in the development of generative AI, showcasing the potential for efficient and powerful language models. While it may not be perfect, the chatbot’s ability to mimic OpenAI’s o1 model without the hefty subscription fee is a game-changer for the industry. However, it’s crucial to remember that the chatbot still struggles with issues like hallucinations and the need for more nuanced moderation. As AI continues to evolve, it’s essential to prioritize responsible development and deployment to ensure the technology benefits society as a whole.

FAQs

Q: Is the DeepSeek chatbot free?
A: Yes, the DeepSeek chatbot is completely free to use.

Q: How do I access the DeepSeek chatbot?
A: You can access the R1 model through the Chinese startup’s smartphone apps (Android, Apple), as well as on the company’s desktop website, or through third-party services like Perplexity Pro.

Q: Is the DeepSeek chatbot as good as ChatGPT?
A: While DeepSeek’s R1 model is powerful, it still struggles with issues like hallucinations and the need for more nuanced moderation, which may make it inferior to ChatGPT in certain aspects.

Q: How does DeepSeek store user data?
A: DeepSeek stores user information in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China. Always be cautious when sharing sensitive information with AI tools.

A Chatbot Made by Chinese AI Startup Rockets to Top of Apple’s App Store Charts

A chatbot made by Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store charts in the US this week, dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app.

Powered by Open-Source Models

The eponymous AI assistant is powered by DeepSeek’s open-source models, which the company says can be trained at a fraction of the cost using far fewer chips than the world’s leading models.

Financial Markets React

The claim has riled financial markets, with Nvidia’s share price dropping over 12 percent in pre-market trading.

What Does This Mean for the AI Industry?

The rise of DeepSeek’s chatbot to the top of the App Store charts is a significant development in the AI industry. It highlights the potential for open-source models to disrupt the status quo and challenge the dominance of larger, more established players. The fact that DeepSeek’s models can be trained at a lower cost and with fewer resources than the world’s leading models could make them more accessible to a wider range of developers and organizations.

Conclusion

The success of DeepSeek’s chatbot is a testament to the power of innovation and the potential for open-source models to drive progress in the AI industry. As the industry continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how other players respond to this challenge and whether DeepSeek’s approach can be replicated and scaled.

FAQs

Q: What is DeepSeek?

A: DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence startup that has developed a chatbot that has rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store charts in the US.

Q: What is the significance of DeepSeek’s open-source models?

A: DeepSeek’s open-source models can be trained at a fraction of the cost using far fewer chips than the world’s leading models, making them more accessible to a wider range of developers and organizations.

Q: How has the financial market reacted to DeepSeek’s success?

A: The claim has riled financial markets, with Nvidia’s share price dropping over 12 percent in pre-market trading.

Q: What does this mean for the future of the AI industry?

A: The rise of DeepSeek’s chatbot to the top of the App Store charts highlights the potential for open-source models to disrupt the status quo and challenge the dominance of larger, more established players in the AI industry.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a start-up founded and owned by the Chinese stock trading firm High-Flyer. Its goal is to build A.I. technologies along the lines of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot or Google’s Gemini. By 2021, DeepSeek had acquired thousands of computer chips from the U.S. chipmaker Nvidia, which are a fundamental part of any effort to create powerful A.I. systems.

Why did the stock market react to it now?

When DeepSeek introduced its DeepSeek-V3 model the day after Christmas, it matched the abilities of the best chatbots from U.S. companies like OpenAI and Google. That alone would have been impressive. But the team behind the new system also revealed a bigger step forward. In a research paper explaining how it built the technology, DeepSeek said it used only a fraction of the computer chips that leading A.I. companies relied on to train their systems.

Why is that important?

Since late 2022, when OpenAI set off the A.I. boom, the prevailing notion had been that the most powerful A.I. systems could not be built without investing billions of dollars in specialized A.I. chips. That would mean that only the biggest tech companies – such as Microsoft, Google and Meta, all of which are based in the United States – could afford to build the leading technologies.

How did DeepSeek make its tech with fewer A.I. chips?

Top A.I. engineers in the United States say that DeepSeek’s research paper laid out clever and impressive ways of building A.I. technology with fewer chips. In short, the startup’s engineers demonstrated a more efficient way of analyzing data using the chips. Leading A.I. systems learn their skills by pinpointing patterns in huge amounts of data, including text, images and sounds. DeepSeek described a way of spreading this data analysis across several specialized A.I. models – what researchers call a “mixture of experts” method – while minimizing the time lost by moving data from place to place.

Is DeepSeek’s tech as good as systems from OpenAI and Google?

DeepSeek-V3 can answer questions, solve logic problems and write its own computer programs as effectively as anything already on the market, according to standard benchmark tests. Just before DeepSeek released its technology, OpenAI had unveiled a new system, called OpenAI o3, which seemed more powerful than DeepSeek-V3. But OpenAI has not released this system to the wider public.

What does it mean for the future of A.I.?

DeepSeek’s research paper raised questions about whether big U.S. companies could maintain a significant lead in A.I. Many experts believe that A.I. technology will become a commodity, with many companies selling much the same product.

Conclusion

DeepSeek’s impressive performance has sent shockwaves through the tech world, raising questions about the future of A.I. and the role of the United States in its development. While some experts argue that the U.S. still has a significant lead in A.I. technology, others believe that DeepSeek’s achievements could signal a shift in the global landscape. As the world continues to grapple with the implications of this new technology, one thing is clear: the future of A.I. is about to get a lot more interesting.

FAQs

Q: What is DeepSeek?
A: DeepSeek is a start-up founded and owned by the Chinese stock trading firm High-Flyer, with the goal of building A.I. technologies along the lines of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot or Google’s Gemini.

Q: Why did the stock market react to DeepSeek now?
A: The stock market reacted to DeepSeek’s announcement of its DeepSeek-V3 model, which matched the abilities of the best chatbots from U.S. companies like OpenAI and Google.

Q: How did DeepSeek make its tech with fewer A.I. chips?
A: DeepSeek’s engineers demonstrated a more efficient way of analyzing data using the chips, spreading data analysis across several specialized A.I. models while minimizing time lost by moving data from place to place.

Q: Is DeepSeek’s tech as good as systems from OpenAI and Google?
A: DeepSeek-V3 can answer questions, solve logic problems and write its own computer programs as effectively as anything already on the market, according to standard benchmark tests.

Q: What does this mean for the future of A.I.?
A: DeepSeek’s research paper raised questions about whether big U.S. companies could maintain a significant lead in A.I. Many experts believe that A.I. technology will become a commodity, with many companies selling much the same product.