The global tech industry has been rocked by a Chinese AI app called DeepSeek, which has caught consumers’ attention globally and sent shockwaves through stock markets. DeepSeek made waves on Monday when it quickly surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in popularity and topped Apple’s App Store productivity category in major markets.
DeepSeek’s triumph has not been ignored by its adversaries. Aravind Srinivas, the founder and CEO of Perplexity, one of the organizations specializing in the creation of extensive language models (ELMs), publicly acknowledged DeepSeek’s success in a post on X. He wrote, “For some time, it was uncertain which entity would surpass ChatGPT first. The best we (Perplexity) could manage was #8, a year ago. Look forward to using all their (DeepSeek’s) models for search, assistant, and agents this year.”
Even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella indirectly acknowledged DeepSeek’s impact during his speech at the World Economic Forum. “We should take the developments out of China very, very seriously,” he said, hinting at the growing influence of Chinese tech innovations.
Founded by Liang Wenfeng, a former hedge fund manager, DeepSeek has made waves by creating a ChatGPT-class language model at a significantly lower cost. DeepSeek’s R1 AI model is said to achieve performance levels comparable to, or in some cases exceeding, those of established models like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini across several key metrics. One of DeepSeek’s unique selling points is its accessibility: its AI tools are completely free to use, in contrast to ChatGPT’s limited free version.
The tech industry is already making analogies to significant innovation moments. Marc Andreessen, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump and co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, referred to DeepSeek’s ascent as “AI’s Sputnik moment.” That alludes to the 1950s, when the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite launch raised concerns about a technological divide between the US and its Cold War adversary.
DeepSeek’s rapid rise underscores the increasing competition in the AI sector, with Chinese companies stepping up as significant players. One thing is evident as the world observes this new phase in AI development: DeepSeek has established itself firmly on the international scene, and its influence is only getting started.
