Quick Facts:
- DeepSeek, a rising Chinese AI startup, has temporarily limited new user registrations due to “large-scale malicious attacks.”
- The company recently surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app in Apple’s App Store.
- The attack comes amidst growing attention on DeepSeek as a cost-effective competitor in the generative AI market.
Reuters and CNBC are reporting that DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that recently overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT in app store downloads, announced on Monday that it is temporarily limiting new user registrations due to “large-scale malicious attacks” targeting its services. Existing users will still be able to log in and use the platform.
The company has garnered significant attention in recent weeks as a rapidly emerging competitor to established AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Earlier on Monday, DeepSeek’s AI Assistant app topped the U.S. free app charts on Apple’s App Store, briefly dethroning ChatGPT. This surge in popularity also contributed to a notable sell-off in global tech stocks.
Founded in 2023, DeepSeek and its recent R1 model release have become a hot topic among tech analysts, investors, and developers. The company’s rapid rise has fueled concerns about falling behind in the competitive generative AI market, which is projected to generate over $1 trillion in revenue within the next decade.
DeepSeek reportedly originated from a Chinese hedge fund’s AI research division in April 2023, focusing on large language models and the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI refers to AI that matches or exceeds human intellect across a broad range of tasks, a goal shared by OpenAI and other major players in the field.
The release of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model last week significantly boosted the company’s profile. This open-source model, comparable to OpenAI’s o1, quickly climbed app store rankings and industry leaderboards, drawing praise for its performance and reasoning capabilities.
DeepSeek’s development is particularly noteworthy given U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China. Despite these limitations, the company has managed to create a competitive model at a fraction of the cost of its U.S. rivals. Jefferies analysts estimated the training cost of a recent version of DeepSeek’s model at just US$5.6 million, significantly less than the cost of models like Meta’s Llama.
This cost efficiency has sparked debate within the AI sector, raising questions about the necessity of massive funding rounds and billion-dollar valuations for AI companies. It has also fueled speculation about a potential bubble in the AI market. The cyberattack on DeepSeek adds another layer of complexity to the company’s rapid ascent and the broader dynamics of the AI industry.
What are the chances that this is the US hitting back at China for the thousands of daily hacking attempts aimed at the US and Taiwan, among others..
- Lead provided by Victor P. Thanks Victor!
