OpenAI creator confesses China’s DeepSeek is ‘impressive’

(MENAFN) Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, has acknowledged the impressive capabilities of China's DeepSeek AI, noting its rapid success since launching its AI Assistant app earlier this month. The app became the most downloaded free app on the US Apple App Store, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT. DeepSeek’s fast rise can be attributed to its free availability, user-friendly design, and open-source model, which has allowed global developers to access and improve the software, driving widespread adoption.

This development has caused a noticeable decline in US tech stocks, with companies like Nvidia suffering substantial losses as investors worry about the competitive threat posed by DeepSeek’s cost-effective AI solutions. Altman praised the Chinese model on social media, acknowledging its impressive performance while promising that OpenAI would deliver even better alternatives in the future.

President Donald Trump also commented on DeepSeek’s success, calling it a "wake-up call" for US tech companies to compete more aggressively. Despite significant US sanctions against China’s access to advanced electronics for AI production, DeepSeek has managed to match the performance of its US and Indian competitors, using significantly less computing power. Trump expressed optimism over DeepSeek’s cost-effectiveness, viewing it as an opportunity for the US to sharpen its focus on AI competition.

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