DeepSeek: China's ChatGPT tsunami that has revolutionised the artificial intelligence market
The emergence of DeepSeek R1China's artificial intelligence APP similar to ChatGPThas been a veritable tsunami in the artificial intelligence sector. (IA)revolutionising the global landscape and challenging the dominance of such Wall Street giants as OpenAI and Google.
In this article we tell you what is DeepSeekThe latest controversies, its advantages and risks, and why it has changed the rules of the game in the artificial intelligence technology sector.
What is DeepSeek and why has it generated so much impact?
Chinese startup DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng. The past 21 Januarywas presented DeepSeek R1which incorporates its latest advanced natural language model, similar to ChatGPT.
The first difference and competitive advantage of DeepSeek lies in its business model, because it is free and open sourceunlike other applications such as ChatGPTThe app is closed-source and requires a licence fee. This is one of the reasons why it has become the most downloaded APP on the market in such a short time.
However, what made the biggest impact in his presentation was his low development cost. The company assured that DeepSeek R1 has been developed with an investment of only five million dollarswhile OpenAI invested more than 100 million in GPT-4. In addition, OpenAI invested more than 100 million in GPT-4, DeepSeek claimed to have trained his model with only 2,000 AI chips.
This impact has led to stock market losses for large US technology companies, especially in the US. Nvidiathe world's leading provider of GPUs for AI, which lost $600 billion in market capitalisation in a single day.
However, doubts have recently arisen as to the veracity of the information provided by DeepSeek. An analysis of the company SemiAnalysis presents in its report that DeepSeek used 60,000 GPUSinstead of the 2,000 chips declared, with a total cost of 1.6 billion. If these claims were correct, the stock market crash of Nvidia and other technology companies would have been based on misleading information. We will have to wait and see if evidence is presented to confirm the conclusions of this study.
Advantages of DeepSeek
These are the main advantages of DeepSeek with respect to its competitors:
- AccessibilityAs we have already mentioned, the APP DeepSeek is free, making it more accessible to individuals, small businesses and startups, democratising access to these technologies worldwide. In addition, its open source model allows developers to easily customise it to create new applications.
- Energy efficiency: It consumes less energy resources than other advanced AI models, reducing operating costs and carbon footprint.
- Competitiveness in performance: It offers a level of quality comparable to ChatGPT, with a focus on speed of response and accuracy.
DeepSeek R1 is now available on Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and GitHub.
Microsoft has incorporated DeepSeek R1 in its cloud service, within the catalogue of more than 1,800 Artificial Intelligence (AI) modelswhich can be downloaded from this link:
Microsoft Azure AI Model Catalogue
DeepSeek risks and threats
Despite their obvious advantages, there are also significant risks and threats associated with their use:
- Cybersecurity: It has been subject to massive cyber-attacks, raising questions about the strength of its infrastructure and the protection of user data.
- Confidentiality: The storage of data on servers in China raises concerns about data privacy.
- Technological dependence: For international markets, relying on Chinese technology can lead to geopolitical tensions.
- Ethical aspects: It faces questions about data handling and possible bias in its responses. In China, censorship is higher, which may influence its AI models.
- Privacy of personal data: As it is open source, the risk of data leakage is higher. In addition, recently, the OCU and other European consumer organisations have denounced that DeepSeek does not comply with the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
OCU denounces DeepSeek's failure to comply with GDPR
The Organisation of Consumers and Users in Spain (OCU) has warned that DeepSeek fails to adequately protect Spanish users' personal datain breach of the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Among the irregularities detected:
- It does not comply with the legal safeguards on international data processing.
- It does not adequately seek the consent of users.
- It does not adequately protect the data of underage users.
- It does not clarify the use of data for profiling or automated decisions.
- It does not specify data retention periods, nor does it provide options for rectification or erasure.
Therefore, the The OCU has asked the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) to to investigate DeepSeek.
Investigation into possible intellectual property theft from OpenAI
The latest major controversy over DeepSeek has been the official declaration of OpenAI which states that it has evidence that DeepSeek has used your data without permission. In this respect, OpenAI and Microsoft have launched a formal investigation into the possible use of reverse-engineering to extract data from the models of OpenAI without authorisation.
If these suspicions are confirmed, DeepSeek could face millions of dollars in lawsuits for copyright infringement and intellectual property theft. At the moment, however, this is only speculation.
Conclusion
Despite the risks and allegations, DeepSeek is already a key player in the artificial intelligence market. Its advantages have seduced consumers and it has positioned itself as a leader in downloads.
However, its future will depend on the resolution of ongoing investigations and how the trade war between China and the US for market leadership in artificial intelligence evolves.
