Over the last week, a new artificial intelligence ("AI") technology, operated by the Chinese firm, DeepSeek-R1 ("DeepSeek"), has disrupted the AI industry triggering a decline in stock prices for major AI firms. DeepSeek's claim that it developed its R1 model at one fraction of the cost of other AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT by reducing the amount of computational time and memory requirements triggered the decline. Another key feature of DeepSeek that will likely drive innovation and competition in the AI industry is its open-source nature, allowing anyone to freely access, utilise and further develop the DeepSeek technology.
Some of DeepSeek's main use cases include:
- Simple tasks such as creative writing, answering user queries, editing text, and summarising concepts;
- More complex tasks requiring reasoning such as generating or debugging source codes, mathematical and statistical calculations, and explaining the reasoning behind scientific concepts.
DeepSeek has disrupted the AI industry, challenging the dominance of a handful of tech giants by offering a competitive alternative to already established AI models. Arguably, the disruptive force of DeepSeek will likely drive the AI industry towards more cost-effective, competitive and innovative AI solutions as companies identify more efficient means to develop and operationalise AI technologies. This will ultimately be for the benefit of the end consumer.
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