Chinese chatbot DeepSeek has dominated headlines as being the next big thing in AI and has subsequently seen a huge uptick of new downloads – but what is the disruptive generative AI chatbot and why is it causing so much controversy?
We’ve put together this guide on everything you need to know about the ChatGPT competitor, DeepSeek, including who owns it, whether it’s free and why its launch has affected the stock market so dramatically.
What is DeepSeek?
Much like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, DeepSeek is an AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions, generate content based on user prompts and even write code. However, unlike its rivals, DeepSeek is open-source and free-to-use. As open-source, it allows anyone to use the technology to build on it at no extra cost.
The latter point is particularly interesting as its most recent R1 release promises to have performance on par with OpenAI’s ChatGPT o1, which starts at $20 a month for limited access and costs a lot more to develop (but more on that later).
At the time of writing, there are two main models to choose from, both of which are free and open-source. There’s V3, which is for everyday use, and the aforementioned R1 for more powerful output.
After its R1 release in January, DeepSeek rose as the top free app across multiple countries, including the UK and US.
Who owns DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is owned by Chinese entrepreneur and businessman, Liang Wenfeng. Co-founder of the quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, which also funds DeepSeek, Liang launched DeepSeek back in May 2023, with the latest R1 release launching in January 2025.
Why did Nvidia stock drop?
As we’ve mentioned earlier, DeepSeek has explained that its R1 release was trained at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI, Google, Meta and other US companies’ AI systems, while offering on-par performance.
As most of these tech giants have previously relied on, and invested heavily in, Nvidia’s AI systems, the fact that DeepSeek rivals its capabilities for a cheaper price has led to significant fallout, with investors questioning whether they’ve invested their money correctly.
Not only has Nvidia stock dropped, but DeepSeek stocks have significantly risen at substantial speeds too.
How can I access DeepSeek?
Keen to see what all the fuss is about? You can try DeepSeek via its website or through its iOS and Android compatible apps.
As a free service, you won’t need to worry about entering any payment information or signing up to monthly subscriptions, however you will need to create an account before trying out the chatbot.
