Looks like we have a new trending AI chatbot in town, and it’s called DeepSeek, which was founded in China.
DeepSeek released its AI assistant and it has now skyrocketed to the number one free app in Apple’s App Store in Canada and beyond, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
“Experience seamless interaction with DeepSeek’s official AI assistant for free!”, explains the app’s description.
“Powered by the groundbreaking DeepSeek-V3 model with over 600B parameters, this state-of-the-art AI leads global standards and matches top-tier international models across multiple benchmarks. Enjoy faster speeds and comprehensive features designed to answer your questions and enhance your life efficiently,” says the app.
Sign in options include Google and Apple and a regular email and password login. DeepSeek was created in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng. The AI chatbot has released its code as open source and in a nutshell, its claim to fame is it has created a ChatGPT rival that works at a fraction of the cost. It’s why markets are down today as people believe this China AI app is turning the North American AI craze upside down.
We downloaded and logged into DeepSeek yesterday with Apple sign-in. On our first query, we were pretty impressed with its answer, compared to ChatGPT and Grok. There’s no doubt it is giving some good answers, but like all AI models, you don’t want to give or ask any personal info. Since it’s an app from China with servers based in the country, it is also censored. Try asking it about “tank man” and it start explaining, but then deletes its answer.
DeepSeek is dominating tech headlines today and we’ll soon see if it was actually created on shoestring budget like it says, or if there is more to this story that we don’t know about yet. You can try DeepSeek out for yourself here in Apple’s App Store.
The Chinese AI chatbot is also available on the web, but right now the site says, “Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek’s services, registration may be busy. Please wait and try again. Registered users can log in normally. Thank you for your understanding and support.” Right now, registration is limited to those with a China-based mobile number. Although sign-in with Google is showing on the web still.
Let us know what your experience has been with DeepSeek in the comments below.
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The new TikTok..lol
I suspect companies (including Apple) have already been having a tough time convincing their shareholders to invest the vast sums of money into a nascent application that for most consumers isn't a need, but a 'Squirrel!' distraction. Even when you give it away, or find ways of embedding it into your OS.
Now your shareholders hear of a very competent alternative that has been whipped together for a fraction of the price, using old technology.
Its only downsize currently – maybe keeping your hopes alive – is that its based in China. But as a proof of concept, its gonna encourage others to do the same. Too late for you as a current shareholder already locked into the pricier options.
Ironically, the first job losses due to AI might be with OpenAI!