DeepSeek, a mobile AI application developed by a Chinese company, has climbed to the top of the iPhone free app charts in both the Chinese mainland and the United States, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT. This achievement follows the recent launch of DeepSeek's \"reasoning model,\" DeepSeek R1.
When users activate the \"DeepThink (R1)\" mode, the app showcases its \"thinking process\" before generating responses, enabling it to tackle complex logical and mathematical problems. According to DeepSeek's official website, the R1 model's performance is comparable to OpenAI-o1, while operating at approximately one-thirtieth of the cost.
The mobile app and web chatbot are currently available for free general use, with payment required only for API calls by programmers. Additionally, DeepSeek has made its full-size model available for free download, allowing users with adequate hardware to run it locally. For devices with less computing power, the company offers scaled-down versions optimized for various hardware capabilities.
Beyond providing free access to its models, DeepSeek has also published a research paper detailing the development of R1, enabling other developers to replicate the process using their own training data.
AI Community Reacts
The release of the R1 model has generated significant buzz within the AI industry, drawing reactions from prominent figures.
Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and co-founder of Netscape, described DeepSeek R1 as \"one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs\" he has ever seen, calling it \"a profound gift to the world.\"
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas noted that \"DeepSeek has largely replicated OpenAI-o1-mini and has open-sourced it.\"
Jim Fan, a senior research manager at Nvidia, praised DeepSeek as a \"non-U.S. company\" that is upholding the original mission of conducting \"truly open, frontier research that empowers all.\"
Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, emphasized that DeepSeek's success highlights how \"open-source models are surpassing proprietary ones,\" rather than signifying any particular country surpassing another in AI.
Kai-Fu Lee, former president of Google China, expressed satisfaction, saying that the DeepSeek releases validate his belief in China's potential to excel in generative AI engineering.
Innovation Driven by Curiosity
In a July 2024 interview, DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng argued that China must move beyond the stereotype of merely applying innovations from others. He emphasized that as the country's economy grows, it should become a global contributor to innovation.
Liang stressed that innovation stems not only from the pursuit of business success but also from genuine curiosity. He revealed that the DeepSeek team is composed of young talent and that the development of the company's earlier V2 model did not involve any overseas contributors.
\"Perhaps the top 50 talents in this field are not in China,\" Liang said. \"But we can cultivate our own.\"
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
