Ranked #1 in downloads on the Appstore on Monday, January 27, ahead of ChatGPT, the new Chinese conversational AI DeepSeek is shaking up the AI world. A success, a threat that earned it a cyber-attack in the process, before causing the Tech stock market to plummet. Because the DeepSeek model is reshuffling the cards…
A real cluster bomb! On Monday, January 27, China's brand new conversational AI, DeepSeek (deep search), the brainchild of a Hangzhou startup funded by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, was ranked #1 free download in the US on the AppStore, abruptly relegating the successful ChatGPT to second place. A rush that caused some technical problems for the company, which was forced to block its platform for a while, as it was itself surprised by its sudden and dazzling success. A dazzling interference that created a wave of panic in Silicon Valley, where the brutality of the stock market reactions was quickly felt.
A second event, also on Monday 27, came shortly after to confirm the keen interest – if not concern – aroused by DeepSeek and its differentiating technology: according to reports from Reuters and CNBC, Chinese AI startup has temporarily limited new user registrations following a “ large scale cyber attack » against its services. Here is what we could read on the platform this Tuesday 28th in the morning: "Due to large scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek's services, registration may be busy"...
Much more efficient AI technology
The sudden success of DeepSeek R1 and its big brother R1-Zero is no accident. Based on a new cutting-edge language designed to increase reasoning and analysis capabilities, its hybrid architecture called “Mixture of experts”, combines a reinforced learning and better exploitation of the reasoning chain, contributing together to improve its performance. The icing on the cake, This conversational agent uses “only” 37 billion parameters out of the 671 billion at its disposal. The consequences are just enormous: faster responses, judged equivalent to those of ChatGPT, and much lower energy consumption, the future key to the AI war if we consider the rise in energy costs.
Incidentally, the fact of needing less computing power to achieve the same results as its American competitors is disrupting the chip sector, which based its growth on increasing its computing power. DeepSeek apparently works very well with current generation chips. No need for the expensive latest and future generation processors from Nvidia?
A cost that casts a chill… and hopes
If we are to believe the leaders of DeepSeek, while in the United States the large firms already launched in the race for AI (Google, Microsoft, Meta, X.AI.Corp (Musk), or Open AI…), have devoted nearly 180 billion dollars in 2024 to AI research and development, The Chinese startup would have needed only... 6 million dollars (well millions!). To compare again, Elon Musk the cost-killer raised 6 billion dollars in December to develop X.AI.Corp, his AI which will have required 12 billion dollars to exist and develop until now.
Above all, if Chinese startups manage to drastically reduce AI costs, This will shift the AI performance war to the Chinese's favorite terrain: pricing.. A version of the story that will undoubtedly claim victims in the US, where it will be necessary to compensate for the fabulous sums already spent. But a development that could ultimately benefit the consumer, with the risk of losing sovereignty.
War of skills?
Are Chinese engineers, sometimes trained in American universities, more efficient than those from Silicon Valley with their huge salaries? Or has the ever-active industrial espionage, combined with growing expertise, allowed the Chinese to catch up with and overtake the Americans? One fact is certain in any case: the USA and its program $500 billion invested in AI over four years announced by Donald Trump or even the 200 billion invested each year from now on by Big Techs are no longer a guarantee of domination in the world of AI; Money floating around is no longer the only driver of innovation, as we have already seen with electric cars. Europe should think about it…
Catastrophic US Tech Values
The sacrosanct New York Stock Exchange, a true real-time observer of the effectiveness of innovations, was quick to announce its verdict: -16.97% at the close for Nvidia, the chip card giant, which continued its fall this Tuesday morning (-24%), -7,83% for its competitor AMD, -17,4% For Broadcom closing on Monday (another Nvidia competitor), -8,7% For Dell, -2,14% For Microsoft, -4,2% For Alphabet (Google), or even -2,59% For Intel. Only Meta (Facebook and Co) returned to equilibrium after a small fall during the session… Clearly well inspired, the AI company founded by Elon Musk, X.AI. Corp, is no longer listed on the stock exchange.
DeepSeek Quick Test: Fast, Factual, But Legalistic
Undeniably DeepSeek is fast, very fast even, as our first quick test showed.. If it reminds us that it "does not have access to real-time information" (a major problem with AI today), the responses of its V3 version are nonetheless relevant, factual, including on sensitive subjects, knowing that we are dealing with a Chinese startup.
So, when asked about the state of human rights in China, DeepSeek returns this response :“Freedom of expression in China is governed by strict laws and regulations that aim to maintain social stability and protect state interests. The Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of expression in theory, but in practice, this freedom is limited by political, social, and cultural considerations. The Chinese government actively regulates the media, the internet, and social media to control information and prevent the spread of content deemed sensitive or subversive. For example, platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, and other social media are monitored, and content critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or the government may be censored.”, etc. Some freedom, but for how long?
And when DeepSeek is asked about its effectiveness compared to ChatGPT, the conversational assistant recognizes the superiority of its American competitor "in certain areas" but not all, and specifies in particular: "DeepSeek-V3 is designed to strictly respect Chinese laws and standards, particularly in terms of censorship and control of information. This makes it more in line with the expectations of the Chinese government and users."
From the government, for sure, from the users…
