DeepSeek, an AI platform from China's DeepSeek laboratory, has quickly gained attention, and experts now debate its effects on worldwide AI competition. After the US blocked TikTok users began moving to Chinese platforms DeepSeek and Rednote, which increased concern about managing and protecting personal data.
Generative AI services for DeepSeek include web-based chat interfaces and mobile apps that can answer questions, perform web searches and provide elaborative reasoning. Like ChatGPT, DeepSeek is affordable and efficient compared to other platforms.
It operates on cost-effective infrastructure even when competing against US-based AI platforms such as leveraging its flagship model, R1. However, China's ability to overcome US hardware sanctions to achieve success with DeepSeek represents both an economic and a political victory.
Issues have been raised on privacy since DeepSeek admits that user data including chat history, input prompts and account details are stored on secure servers in China. It also tracks the information about device usage and data generated from advertisers and third-party sign-ins via Google and Apple platforms.
Privacy activists point out that DeepSeek’s approach might be even more intrusive than TikTok’s as the user-generated questions and AI exchanges are forwarded to China. Though DeepSeek provides an option to clear conversations, there are certain concerns about data storage and utilisation of such discussions to enrich the artificial intelligence models and adhere to the Chinese data sharing laws.
Professionals recommend users protect their personal information when using the platform because of known privacy dangers. Users of DeepSeek have discovered that the platform removes content related to critical views of China and its policies.
The low cost of DeepSeek’s development model has created great waves in global technology markets, especially in the United States. The announcement of the R1 model caused leading US tech stocks led by Nvidia, Alphabet and Meta, to drop by a significant amount. Nvidia alone lost $588.8 billion in market value, a record-breaking single-day decline.
The rise of DeepSeek has raised fears that the days of American AI dominance are numbered while spotlighting the benefits of low-cost innovation. The company's achievements come despite geopolitical tensions and US export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China, which has had little involvement in the semiconductor industry for decades.