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ChatGPT users have been frustrated over the OpenAI platform’s outages over the past year. Although it’s rare, the tool has acknowledged issues, with the most recent being in mid-January 2025. Now, a new AI tool known as DeepSeek is making waves, and it has reportedly dethroned ChatGPT as the most popular platform. So, what is DeepSeek, and is it really going to become the next go-to AI brand around the world?
Learn all about DeepSeek below.
What Is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence startup lab that creates open-source large language models (a.k.a LLMs). The AI company is mostly funded by the hedge fund High-Flyer.
High-Flyer’s co-founder, Liang Wenfeng, introduced the hedge fund in 2016, and it eventually developed DeepSeek in 2023. Wenfeng had reportedly previously racked up tens of thousands of Nvidia A100 GPUs before the United States government created AI chip restrictions on China.
According to its website, DeepSeek-V3, the latest popular AI tool, “achieves a significant breakthrough in inference speed over previous models. It tops the leaderboard among open-source models and rivals the most advanced closed-source models globally.”
Goodbye ChatGPT
It’s only been 5 days since Deepseek R1 dropped, and the World is already blown away by its potential.
13 examples that will blow your mind (Don’t miss the 5th one): pic.twitter.com/U5yElFgXaM
— Poonam Soni (@CodeByPoonam) January 25, 2025
About DeepSeek’s Outage
Shortly after the DeepSeek tool rapidly became popular in January 2025, users reported outages with the tool.
Is DeepSeek Replacing ChatGPT?
At the moment, it’s unclear if DeepSeek could completely dethrone ChatGPT as the most widely used AI platform. However, if its success continues, DeepSeek could become the next go-to AI chat.
How Does ChatGPT Compare to DeepSeek?
Both AI platforms have a free version that allows users to ask general questions or receive help with problem solving. However, ChatGPT’s paid subscription is more expensive than DeepSeeks’s. ChatGPT starts at $20 per month, while DeepSeek starts at $0.50 per month.
According to several outlets such as Business Today, DeepSeek does better than ChatGPT in generating code, such as Python or Java, and in solving complex math equations. As for ChatGPT, the OpenAI tool is reportedly better at telling jokes and is more up to date with global events.
How Is DeepSeek Affecting Meta?
Apparently, Meta is scrambling to compete with DeepSeek, according to multiple outlets. Additionally, a person who is allegedly a Meta employee claimed the company was panicking while posting a message to the forum known as Blind.
“Engineers are moving frantically to dissect deepsek and copy anything and everything we can from it [sic]. I’m not even exaggerating,” the anonymous person, who is allegedly a Meta employee, wrote. “Management is worried about justifying the massive cost of gen ai org. How would they face the leadership when every single ‘leader; of gen ai org is making more than what it cost to trained deepseek v3 entirely, and we have dozens of such ‘leaders’ Deepseek r1 made things even scarier. I can’t reveal confidential info but it’ll be soon public anyways [sic].”
