AI industry in panic after China's DeepSeek overtakes ChatGPT and Meta
DeepSeek-R1 marks a historic pivot in the balance of technological power. The emergence of a powerful Chinese AI model has prompted a panicked response from leading US firms and led to warnings of a global AI arms race. Artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek released the latest version of its open-source AI last week, which rivals the best models of tech giants like Meta and ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
DeepSeek-R1 surpasses its rivals in several key metrics, while also costing just a fraction of the amount to train and develop. Its capabilities helped propel it to the top of Apple’s App Store’s charts, overtaking ChatGPT as the top-rated free application in the US.
Panic in the AI Industry
In a post to the employment forum Blind, an anonymous Meta employee claimed that the company’s generative artificial intelligence division was in “panic mode” over DeepSeek. According to the post, engineers at Meta are moving frantically to dissect DeepSeek and copy anything and everything they can from it.
Silicon Valley experts warned that the dominance of US Big Tech is under threat from DeepSeek, which offers a cost-effective alternative to current AI development methods.
Disruption in the Global Tech Landscape
Nigel Green, chief executive of the financial advisory firm deVere Group, stated that DeepSeek was disrupting the global tech landscape and escalating the AI arms race. He emphasized that China’s technological advances, particularly in AI, are eroding the US’s ability to maintain global supremacy using tariffs.
Open Source Models vs Proprietary Models
Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun acknowledged the rise of DeepSeek but claimed that it should be seen as less of a threat and more a demonstration of the strength of open-source models. LeCun highlighted the power of open research and open source, stating that DeepSeek has profited from open research and open source by building on the work of others.
