Deepseek Shocks Tech World With Revolutionary Ai Model

OpenAI’s quiet panic may be the tech industry’s wake-up call. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through the sector with its remarkably affordable AI model, trained at a fraction of the cost of its US rivals.

The market reacted sharply, with investors scrambling to reassess their investments in OpenAI and Meta, sparking a $1 trillion selloff. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is walking a tightrope between congratulating the newcomer and reassuring his investors of better times ahead. While acknowledging DeepSeek’s impressive achievement, Altman pledged to deliver “much better models” that would surpass its capabilities.

Insiders suggest that OpenAI is genuinely concerned about keeping pace with DeepSeek’s disruptive offering. The company is reportedly revamping its approach by making more of its AI models’ reasoning steps publicly available, a move eerily reminiscent of DeepSeek’s open-source strategy. OpenAI offers its o3-mini reasoning model for free to all users, in a bid to match DeepSeek’s competitive edge.

This bold move is seen as an attempt to poach users from the Chinese startup’s camp. Furthermore, OpenAI is reevaluating its stance on open source, acknowledging that its current closed-source approach may have been misguided. During a recent Reddit AMA, Altman revealed that he believes OpenAI has been on the wrong side of history and needs to reassess its open source strategy.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, also weighed in during a recent earnings call, acknowledging that DeepSeek has introduced novel techniques that are still being digested by the industry. He expressed hope to implement some aspects of DeepSeek’s technology in Meta’s systems, regardless of whether it’s a Chinese competitor or not. Some executives are advocating for US protectionism to level the playing field and prevent China from gaining an unfair advantage.

The US AI industry remains committed to pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into expanding infrastructure. At the heart of this initiative is the Stargate program, launched by OpenAI and backed by President Donald Trump, aiming to raise half a trillion dollars over four years. However, the project’s success remains uncertain.