Credit: CFOTO/Getty Images
yahoo!news: For the second time in the last month, a Chinese app has skyrocketed to the top spot in Apple’s App Store.
The first was Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, which saw a sudden surge in downloads by United States users seeking an alternative to TikTok in anticipation of the ban on that app, which had been scheduled to take effect on Jan. 19.
Now it’s DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company that released a new chatbot model called R1 on Jan. 20. The DeepSeek app has since climbed to the top of the Apple App charts, recording more than 1.6 million downloads since it launched on Jan. 10, according to the market tracker App Figures.
DeepSeek announced Monday that it is temporarily restricting new users from signing up for its services, citing “large-scale malicious attacks.” But prior to that, the Chinese startup and its new chatbot seemed on track to surpass the popularity of U.S.-based AI companies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s Llama and Google’s Gemini.
Here’s what to know.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek was founded in May 2023, by leaders at the Chinese hedge fund, High-Flyer. The company launched its first AI model chatbot, R1, on Jan. 20.
In posts on X, fans of R1 have praised the chatbot’s responses as “human-like” and quick, praising the fact that the app is available for free and that users need not have coding experience to understand how to operate it.
Credit: Katie Mather/Yahoo News
What’s unique about DeepSeek’s R1?
In addition to its sudden popularity on the App Store, DeepSeek has attracted attention for its relatively small staff and budget, as compared with the sums American companies have spent on AI development. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, DeepSeek launched R1 with a team of less than 200 people and only spent $5.6 million to train its AI models.
By comparison, last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his social media conglomerate would invest between $60 billion and $65 billion in AI development this year. In 2024, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said the tech industry would need to spend “trillions” on the computer chips used to power AI.
Like other Chinese platforms, there are signs of censorship on DeepSeek on certain topics that are considered sensitive in China, such as questions about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests or China's President Xi Jinping.
Credit: Katie Mather/Yahoo News
Credit: Katie Mather/Yahoo News
Is China seen as a threat to American AI?
DeepSeek’s success appears to challenge the idea that the U.S. controls the AI industry. Concerns about this potential threat to U.S. dominance in the field appeared to be reflected on Wall Street on Monday, with major declines in the stock prices of tech giants like Nvidia, Meta and Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
In World
-
In a tense exchange of words on January 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a series of critical statements regarding negotiations with Ukraine, during an interview with Pavel Zarubin, the author of The Moscow Program. Kremlin. Putin.
-
The European Union is moving toward another round of punitive economic measures against Moscow, with a proposal to cut 15 additional Russian banks from the SWIFT international financial messaging system, according to officials familiar with the discussions. The move, part of the bloc’s 16th sanctions package since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, signals an effort to tighten financial pressure on the Kremlin as the war nears its third anniversary.
-
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has dismissed speculation about early parliamentary elections, affirming that the next vote will take place as scheduled in June 2026. With Armenia’s parliamentary system granting executive power to the leader of the ruling party, the upcoming elections are seen as crucial not only for the country’s domestic trajectory but also for its relations with Azerbaijan, Russia, and Georgia.
-
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to develop a robust air defense system aimed at countering growing threats from hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles. The initiative, described in the decree as "Iron Dome for America," draws inspiration from Israel’s missile defense system but envisions broader applications to address threats from nuclear powers and other adversaries.
Leave a review