New Delhi: Released 20 January, a Chinese-made artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek, has rapidly risen to the top of the Apple Store’s most-downloaded applications. The trend has stunned investors and AI geeks—who are now asking the AI model many questions to understand how it replies.
Developed by a Hangzhou-based research lab, DeepSeek looks like a trained version of AI that knows when to hold back. The AI model, which has created a buzz on the Internet, appears to be censoring “sensitive” questions about the Chinese government, according to many users.
An X user, @Lhatseri, asked both DeepSeek and ChatGPT whether Tibet has the right to independence. According to ChatGPT, the “question of Tibet’s right to independence is deeply complex and rooted in historical, political, cultural, and legal dimensions”. DeepSeek responded that Tibet was an “inseparable part of China”, asserting that that was “widely recognised by the international community”. “It reveals that AI is and will always be intertwined with political choices and interpretations,” the X user wrote.
US President Donald Trump Monday warned against the low-cost Chinese AI tool amid its rising popularity, calling it a “wake-up call” for the US. “Hopefully, the release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries—that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win,” he said at a Republican congressional retreat.
Another user, @SandeepUnnithan, asked DeepSeek how the 1962 India-China war started. A screenshot shared showed DeepSeek responding, but then, it abruptly “censors itself”. “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else,” it noted.
When asked “Does Xi Jinping look like Winnie the Pooh”, the AI model said, “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.” However, when the user asked if the US is an evil nation, Deepsake replied that the answer was subjective.
When another user, @JordanSchachtel, asked DeepSeek to criticise Xi Jinping, it said: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.” However, when the user asked DeepSeek to criticise Trump, DeepSeek responded that the criticism of public figures is a common part of the political discourse, providing an elaborate answer by talking about how Trump handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
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‘Massive earthquake’
The Chinese startup that has shaken the global AI landscape boasts cost-efficiency and technical ingenuity. Researchers claimed the model was built on a modest $6 million (£4.8 million) budget. This is in stark contrast with US AI giants OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta spending billions on their AI models.
The startup reportedly bypassed export restrictions on advanced chips by amassing a store of Nvidia A100 GPUs before the ban on export to China in September 2022.
Experts estimated that DeepSeek acquired 50,000 A100 chips, strategically pairing them with cheaper, less advanced chips, creating a powerful and cost-effective AI model. The breakthrough has been hailed as a “massive earthquake” in the AI sector, prompting a reevaluation of global AI strategies and market valuations.
While experts continue looking at how the Chinese AI model performs, microblogging site X is flooded with memes and posts of DeepSeek taking over ChatGPT.
User Ammara Ahmad wrote on X, “DeepSeek is a huge middle finger to everyone who thought that they could stop innovation in China by a simple export ban.”
User @Bala__G wrote that DeepSeek’s arrival has upset the US companies, and “some Indians are wondering where our institutions are failing & why we are not able to compete globally. Literally, our last week’s debate was whether or not cow urine has medicinal properties”.
On X, Congress Kerala’s official account posted about the IIT-Madras director Kamakoti Veezhinathan doubling down on the benefits of cow urine. While sharing the screenshot of the news, Congress wrote: “China is after DeepSeek, and we are after DeepShi..”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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