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When ChatGPT was publicly launched, it grabbed nearly everyone’s attention. Rightly so because it was the first major consumer-facing generative artificial intelligence-based chatbot. Everything that came later, such as Google’s Gemini or Elon Musk-owned xAI’s Grok, could not mimic that impact. However, a Chinese AI app has not only emulated ChatGPT’s pomp in the industry and elsewhere but has successfully managed to get everyone talking about it. So much so that DeepSeek is now the top-rated free app on Apple’s Store in the US, the UK, and China.
While DeepSeek was launched for the public earlier this month, the last few days have been crucial to the app’s surging popularity. Powered by the open-source DeepSeek-V3 model that has allegedly cost its researchers less than $6 million—a fraction of the investment of over $100 million in ChatGPT’s development and maintenance, DeepSeek has shaken up the belief that America is the undisputed leader of the AI industry. Its soaring popularity also comes days after newly-elected US President Donald Trump inaugurated a $500 billion Project Stargate to build new AI infrastructure for OpenAI and partnering companies in the US in a bid to bolster the country’s position in the AI race.
In the backdrop of the newfound stardom of DeepSeek are the restrictions the US has imposed on the export of AI chips to several countries, a move that primarily targets adversaries such as China and Russia. Since AI companies require billions of dollars in investments to procure powerful chips to train foundational models, the emergence of DeepSeek is a surprising event for the leading companies, especially Microsoft-backed OpenAI. It is also a case study on judicious use of limited resources—currently a hot topic on the internet.
While many users have lauded DeepSeek’s bullish penetration into the market dominated by ChatGPT, some have criticised it for being just a rip-off.
When you ask the new Chinese AI Deepseek: “what model are you?”
It replies: “I’m an AI language model called ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI”
If you can’t create, steal 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/JDQUhztV1c
— Max Gagliardi (@max_gagliardi) January 24, 2025
DeepSeek R1 is 100% Opensource and 96.4% cheaper than OpenAI o1 while delivering similar performance.
OpenAI o1: $60.00 per 1M output tokens
DeepSeek R1: $2.19 per 1M output tokensPeople with $200 ChatGPT subscription, let that sink in. pic.twitter.com/yLnSDOGRzL
— Shubham Saboo (@Saboo_Shubham_) January 21, 2025
Deepseek AI is a free alternative to Chatgpt. It is also Chinese.
So I basically caught it censoring its own answers live.
It did the same for “what is the Great Leap forward”.
But it happily explains what 911 was.
Dont use it if you dont want CCP to read and edit what you… pic.twitter.com/n8tAwkxl1g
— Carsten Valgreen (@CarstenVal) January 23, 2025
Silicon Valley is a fraud.
DeepSeek eating ChatGPT, etc.’s lunch should be an eye-opener for you.
They lapped US AI behemoths, w/ none of their budget, & God knows how much less computing power.
Since I know you need Pop Culture references, this is basically what happened: pic.twitter.com/tfdBkWNVra
— Stef. 👨🏾💻 (@STEFisDOPE) January 26, 2025
DeepSeek has also found its admirers in the who’s who of the AI industry.
Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity AI, took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate DeepSeek on the feat. “Congrats to @deepseek_ai for getting to #1 on the App Store. For a while, it wasn’t clear who would beat ChatGPT for the first time,” he wrote.
“DeepSeek R1 is one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I’ve ever seen,” Marc Andreessen, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has aided Trump, said in a post on X.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman has yet to respond to the comparisons online, but whether DeepSeek can emerge as a true ChatGPT is something only time will tell.
