What is DeepSeek and why is it disrupting the AI sector?

Bangkok Post

Chinese startup DeepSeek's launch of its latest AI models, which it says are on a par or better than industry-leading models in the United States at a fraction of the cost, is threatening to upset the technology world order. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Chinese startup DeepSeek has roiled global stock markets with the launch of its latest

00:05artificial intelligence models. The company says they are on par with or better than industry

00:11leading models in the U.S. at a fraction of the cost, which has led to steep declines for AI

00:17chipmaker Nvidia's shares and others. Here's what we know about the company and its product

00:24Since the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022, Chinese tech firms have been

00:30scrambling to create their own chatbots powered by artificial intelligence.

00:35DeepSeek says two of its models have been showered with praise by Silicon Valley executives

00:41and U.S. tech company engineers and are on par with OpenAI and Meta's most advanced models.

00:48It also says that one of them is 20 to 50 times cheaper to use than an OpenAI

00:54model depending on the task. One technology CEO told CNBC he thinks DeepSeek is using

01:00Nvidia chips which are banned from being sold to Chinese companies.

01:04DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation.

01:09The company is a Hangzhou-based startup whose controlling shareholder is Liang Wenfeng,

01:15co-founder of quantitative hedge fund HiFlyer based on Chinese corporate records.

01:20It is unclear how much HiFlyer has invested in DeepSeek.

01:24The two companies have offices in the same building and HiFlyer owns patents related

01:29to chip clusters used to train AI models, according to Chinese corporate records.

01:35DeepSeek's success has already been noticed in China's top political circles.

01:40Last week on the day DeepSeek released a new product to the public,

01:44company founder Liang attended a closed-door symposium hosted by Chinese premier Li

01:50Qiang according to state news agency Xinhua. Liang's presence at the gathering is potentially

01:56a sign that DeepSeek's success could be important to Beijing's policy goal of overcoming Washington's

02:03export controls and achieving self-sufficiency in strategic industries like AI.

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