In the past week, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI start up has caused a lot of stir in the industry due to its groundbreaking advancements with its DeepSeek-V3 model. It promises higher efficiency and reduced computational demands compared to other AI models from the likes of OpenAI, Meta and Google.
DeepSeek is low-cost and potentially better than ChatGPT
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What makes DeepSeek a disruptive force is its cost-effectiveness which makes high-performance AI more accessible and sustainable. It was reported that it only cost DeepSeek less than USD 6 million (about RM26.3 million) to train its AI model which is a fraction of what other tech giants have spent, while using about 2,000 “inferior” Nvidia H800 chips due to import restrictions imposed by the US.
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At the time of writing, DeepSeek is currently the #1 free app on the Apple App Store for several countries including the US and Malaysia, beating the likes of ChatGPT and other social media platforms.
If you haven’t sign up for DeepSeek yet, the platform has temporarily suspended registrations allegedly due to large-scale malicious attacks on their services.
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For those who have managed to register and give DeepSeek a go, the China developed AI model appears to be giving ChatGPT a run for its money. AndroidAuthority tried DeepSeek for various prompts including writing a code for a Tic Tac Toe game and creating a draft for a OnePlus 13 review, and they found it to be a serious alternative to ChatGPT.
What stood out is its human-like thought process which provides clearer breakdown of the context, structure and explanation for its output. DeepSeek is open source and it is available for free to consumers (if you can register an account). As a comparison, ChatGPT costs USD 20 per month (about RM87.90) for Plus and USD 200 per month (about RM879) for its Pro account.
Nvidia loses nearly USD 600 billion, biggest drop ever for US company
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When the US stock market opened on Monday, over USD 1 trillion in market cap was wiped out primarily due to DeekSeek as it raises concerns about the competitiveness and profitability of US tech giants who have invested heavily in AI. One of the biggest losers is Nvidia which saw its stocks plunged by 17%, losing nearly USD 600 billion in market cap which is said to be biggest one-day loss in US history.
Nvidia has issued a statement highlighting that DeepSeek’s advances show the usefulness of its chips for the CHinese market and more of its chips will be needed in the future to meet demand for DeekSeeek’s services. It added that DeepSeek’s work illustrates how new models can be created using that technique, leveraging widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has described the rise of DeepSeek a “wake-up call” for American tech companies and they should be laser focused on competing. He said the low-cost model is a positive development for AI because “instead of spending billions and billions, you’ll spend less, and you’ll come up with, hopefully, the same solution.”
DeepSeek stores information on secured servers in China
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However, there are concerns about how DeepSeek collects and stores user information. According to DeepSeek’s privacy policy, it is stated that they store the information they collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China. It added that any transfer of personal information out of the country you live will be done in accordance with the requirements of applicable data protection laws.