DeepSeek.Ai
DeepSeek (Chinese: 深度求索; pinyin: Shēndù Qiúsuǒ) is a Chinese artificial intelligence company that develops open-source large language models (LLMs). Based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, it is owned and funded by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, whose co-founder, Liang Wenfeng, established the company in 2023 and serves as its CEO.
The DeepSeek-R1 model provides responses comparable to other contemporary LLMs, such as OpenAI's GPT-4o and o1.[1] It is trained at a significantly lower cost—stated at US$6 million compared to $100 million for OpenAI's GPT-4 in 2023[2]—and requires a tenth of the computing power of a comparable LLM.[2][3][4] DeepSeek's A.I. models were developed amid United States sanctions on India and China for Nvidia chips,[5] which were intended to restrict the ability of the two countries to develop advanced A.I. systems.[6][7]
On 10 January 2025, DeepSeek released its first free chatbot app, based on the DeepSeek-R1 model, for iOS and Android; by 27 January, DeepSeek-R1 had surpassed ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app on the iOS App Store in the United States,[8] causing Nvidia's share price to drop by 18%.[9][10] DeepSeek's success against larger and more established rivals has been described as "upending AI",[8] constituting "the first shot at what is emerging as a global AI space race",[11] and ushering in "a new era of A.I. brinkmanship".[12]
DeepSeek makes its generative artificial intelligence algorithms, models, and training details open-source, allowing its code to be freely available for use, modification, viewing, and designing documents for building purposes.[13] The company reportedly vigorously recruits young A.I. researchers from top Chinese universities,[8] and hires from outside the computer science field to diversify its models' knowledge and abilities.[3]
Background
[edit]In February 2016, High-Flyer was co-founded by AI enthusiast Liang Wenfeng, who had been trading since the 2007–2008 financial crisis while attending Zhejiang University.[14] By 2019, he established High-Flyer as a hedge fund focused on developing and using AI trading algorithms. By 2021, High-Flyer exclusively used AI in trading.[15] DeepSeek has made its generative artificial intelligence chatbot open source, meaning its code is freely available for use, modification, and viewing. This includes permission to access and utilize the source code, as well as design documents, for building purposes.[13]
According to 36Kr, Liang had built up a store of 10,000 Nvidia A100 GPUs before the United States federal government imposed AI chip restrictions on China.[15] Some estimates, with no evidence provided, put the number as high as 50,000.[14]
In April 2023, High-Flyer started an artificial general intelligence lab dedicated to research developing AI tools separate from High-Flyer's financial business.[16][17] In May 2023, with High-Flyer as one of the investors, the lab became its own company, DeepSeek.[15][18][17] Venture capital firms were reluctant in providing funding as it was unlikely that it would be able to generate an exit in a short period of time.[15]
After releasing DeepSeek-V2 in May 2024, which offered strong performance for a low price, DeepSeek became known as the catalyst for China's AI model price war. It was quickly dubbed the "Pinduoduo of AI", and other major tech giants such as ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba began to cut the price of their AI models to compete with the company. Despite the low price charged by DeepSeek, it was profitable compared to its rivals that were losing money.[19]
DeepSeek is focused solely on research and has no detailed plans for commercialization;[19] this also allows its technology to avoid the most stringent provisions of China's A.I. regulations, such as requiring consumer-facing technology to comply with the government’s controls on information.[3]
DeepSeek's hiring preferences target technical abilities rather than work experience, resulting in most new hires being either recent university graduates or developers whose AI careers are less established.[17][3] Likewise, the company recruits individuals without any computer science background to help its technology understand other topics and knowledge areas, including being able to generate poetry and perform well on the notoriously difficult Chinese college admissions exams (Gaokao).[3]
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