DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) tool, is challenging OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most highly-rated generative AI (GenAI) app.
Today (27 January 2025) DeepSeek’s AI Assistant surpassed ChatGPT as the highest-rated free app on the US App Store.
The DeepSeek-V3 model is cheaper to use and outperforms most of the popular large language models (LLMs).
The tool was developed by DeepSeek Lab and funded by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which uses its own home-grown AI trading algorithms.
High Flyer has, since April 2023, had its own artificial general intelligence (AGI) lab focusing on developing AI tools for general use – the company that became DeepSeek.
The company launched its open source DeepSeek Coder in November 2023, available to researchers and commercial users.
Also in November 2023, the DeepSeek LLM was launched, scaling up to 67-billion parameters, but limited in scalability and efficiency.
DeepSeek- V2 was released in May 2024 and quickly put other models under pressure to compete with its pricing and performance.
DeepSeek-V3 was launched in December 2024, with 671-billion parameters and trained in around 55 days. The tool uses fewer resources than others and has been shown to outperform popular rivals.
In November 2024, DeepSeek R1-Lite-Preview was released, which was trained for logical inference, mathematical reasoning, and real-time problem-solving. Tests show that it turns in better performance that competitive products.
This month (January 2025 DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-R1-Zero, based on the V3 base, were released, along with some DeepSeek-R1-Distill models, which are similar to other open-weight models and fine-tuned on synthetic data generated by R1.
The technology is set to shake up the market, says Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group
“Deepseek is going to challenge Silicon Valley’s leadership, disrupting the global tech landscape and reshaping the direction of the AI arms race,” he says.
“The launch of this innovation underscores a historic pivot in the balance of technological power.
“US Big Tech, long considered untouchable, is facing credible and intensifying competition from China.
“For investors, this is both a warning and an opportunity – it’s time to rethink traditional tech allocations and seek out new areas of growth.”
DeepSeek’s rapid ascent, with its AI models now dominating Apple’s iPhone download charts, highlights not only innovation but also the growing vulnerabilities in digital ecosystems.
As AI becomes more sophisticated, so do the potential risks, making cybersecurity a vital component of the technological future.
“The rise of AI amplifies the need to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure. As governments and businesses race to integrate these technologies, they will increasingly turn to cybersecurity providers to safeguard their operations. This sector is no longer just about defense; it’s a growth engine in a world defined by escalating technological rivalry.”
Green believes the implications of this AI breakthrough extend beyond tech, touching on geopolitics and global trade.
For years, the US has relied on tariffs and economic pressure to maintain its dominance. However, DeepSeek’s emergence demonstrates the limits of this approach.
Green explains: “China’s technological advances, particularly in AI, are eroding the US’s ability to use tariffs as a tool to maintain global supremacy.
“The balance of power is shifting, and Washington must recognize that it can’t always dictate terms to Beijing as it once did. This new reality will have far-reaching consequences for investors and policymakers.”
He adds that the rise of DeepSeek highlights the accelerating pace of the “global AI arms race”, with China now firmly establishing itself as a serious competitor. This is not just about a single company; it represents a larger trend that will redefine the global economic landscape.
“This is the clearest signal yet of where the future is heading,” says Green. “AI will be the defining technology of our time, and the race to dominate it will shape global markets for decades to come. Investors need to take a global perspective, focusing on emerging technologies, cybersecurity, and markets that are driving innovation.”