DeepSeek, an emerging AI startup founded in May 2023 in Hangzhou, China, is rapidly redefining the global AI landscape with its groundbreaking innovations. By training a large language model in just 55 days for under $6 million, DeepSeek challenges the notion that high-performance AI requires hefty investments, positioning itself as a strong competitor to established giants like OpenAI and Google.
With its highly successful AI assistant chatbot topping U.S. App Store charts and the release of the R1 reasoning model, DeepSeek is already reshaping industry dynamics and prompting significant stock fluctuations among major tech firms. Analysts have even dubbed this moment a “Sputnik moment,” highlighting the urgent shift in competitive power as DeepSeek underscores China’s growing influence in the global tech arena. As it continues to push boundaries, the future of AI—and the technological landscape as a whole—appears poised for a dramatic transformation.