Innovative Breakthrough at a Low Cost: “Deepseek” Creates New Challenge in AI World
The Chinese company “Deepseek” unveiled a new AI app called “Deepseek-V3” with a cost under $6 million, sparking significant interest as it challenges leading American apps like “ChatGPT.”
The app topped the free apps list on the Apple Store, raising questions about the company’s ability to compete globally, especially given the previous gap between Chinese and American AI capabilities.
Criticism and Allegations
Alexander Wang, CEO of “Scale AI,” suggested that “Deepseek” might be violating U.S. export controls by using advanced “H100” chips from Nvidia, but provided no evidence. “Deepseek” has not responded officially to these claims.
Reports from “Bernstein” indicated that the total cost of training the “Deepseek-V3” model might be higher than claimed. Additionally, the cost for developing the newly launched “Deepseek-R1” model remains undisclosed.
Successes and Challenges
“Deepseek” claimed that both “Deepseek-V3” and “Deepseek-R1” rival or even surpass the latest AI models from “Meta” and “OpenAI.” The company also stated that the development cost of “Deepseek-R1” is 20 to 50 times lower than “OpenAI’s GPT-4,” depending on the task.
Notably, “Deepseek” was founded in Hangzhou, China, and received significant government support, reflecting China’s strategic focus on technological innovation to achieve self-sufficiency in advanced industries.
