In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), DeepSeek has emerged as a prominent Chinese company specializing in the development of open-source large language models (LLMs). Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, co-founder of the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, DeepSeek is headquartered in Hangzhou and has quickly gained recognition for its cost-effective and efficient AI models.
Founding and Mission
Established with the vision of democratizing access to advanced AI technologies, DeepSeek focuses on creating open-source LLMs that are both powerful and accessible. By releasing their models under open-source licenses, DeepSeek enables researchers, developers, and organizations worldwide to utilize, modify, and build upon their AI technologies, fostering innovation and collaboration within the AI community.
Key Milestones and Model Releases
1. DeepSeek-Coder (November 2023):
DeepSeek’s inaugural release, DeepSeek-Coder, was made available for free to both researchers and commercial users. The model’s code was open-sourced under the MIT license, promoting transparency and widespread adoption.
2. DeepSeek LLM (November 2023):
Following DeepSeek-Coder, the company launched DeepSeek LLM, scaling up to 67 billion parameters. This model was designed to compete with contemporaries like OpenAI’s GPT-4, offering comparable performance while maintaining computational efficiency and scalability. A chat version, DeepSeek Chat, was also introduced to enhance interactive AI applications.
3. DeepSeek-V2 (May 2024):
The DeepSeek-V2 series included base models and chatbots, offering cost-effective solutions priced at approximately 2 RMB per million tokens produced. This affordability made advanced AI capabilities more accessible to a broader range of users and applications.
4. DeepSeek R1 (January 2025):
DeepSeek’s R1 model was engineered to excel in logical inference, mathematical reasoning, and real-time problem-solving. Benchmarks indicated that R1 outperformed OpenAI’s o1 in tasks such as the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) and MATH, highlighting DeepSeek’s commitment to advancing AI reasoning capabilities.
5. DeepSeek-V3 (December 2024):
The latest iteration, DeepSeek-V3, boasts 671 billion parameters and was trained over approximately 55 days at a cost of $5.58 million. This model demonstrated superior performance compared to Meta’s Llama 3.1 and Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5, matching the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Notably, DeepSeek-V3 achieved these results using significantly fewer resources, underscoring the efficiency of DeepSeek’s approach.
Global Impact and Adoption
DeepSeek’s open-source models have been rapidly adopted across various sectors in China, including automotive, healthcare, government agencies, and finance. This widespread integration reflects the models’ versatility and the growing confidence in their capabilities. While some companies have implemented DeepSeek’s AI for practical applications, others leverage it to enhance public relations or express national pride.
Internationally, DeepSeek’s advancements have attracted attention from global tech leaders. During a CNBC conference in Singapore, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff highlighted DeepSeek’s R1 model as an example of achieving high performance with lower costs, prompting discussions about AI development strategies in the U.S. and China.
Challenges and Controversies
Despite its achievements, DeepSeek has faced scrutiny regarding content censorship within its models. The official API version of R1 reportedly employs mechanisms to avoid politically sensitive topics, aligning with Chinese government guidelines. For instance, the model may decline to discuss events like the Tiananmen Square protests or issues related to Taiwan’s political status, raising concerns about freedom of information and the ethical implications of AI censorship.
Conclusion
DeepSeek’s rapid ascent in the AI industry underscores the potential of open-source models to drive innovation and accessibility. By delivering cost-effective and efficient AI solutions, DeepSeek is not only contributing to technological advancements but also stimulating global discussions on the future of AI development, ethics, and international collaboration.
The Wise Report 
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