Despite being in improvement for a number of years, DeepSeek appears to have arrived virtually in a single day after the discharge of its R1 mannequin on Jan 20 took the AI world by storm, primarily as a result of it presents efficiency that competes with ChatGPT-o1 with out charging you to make use of it. Its app is at present primary on the iPhone’s App Store because of its immediate reputation.
DeepSeek is a Chinese-owned AI startup and has developed its newest LLMs (referred to as DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1) to be on a par with rivals ChatGPT-4o and ChatGPT-o1 whereas costing a fraction of the value for its API connections. And due to the best way it really works, DeepSeek makes use of far much less computing energy to course of queries.
Some safety consultants have expressed concern about information privateness when utilizing DeepSeek since it’s a Chinese firm. Obviously, given the current legal controversy surrounding TikTok, there are considerations that any information it captures might fall into the arms of the Chinese state.
DeepSeek has already endured some “malicious attacks” leading to service outages which have pressured it to limit who can enroll. Keep updated on all the most recent information with our live blog on the outage.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is the identify of the Chinese startup that created the DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 LLMs, which was based in May 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, an influential determine within the hedge fund and AI industries.
The first DeepSeek product was DeepSeek Coder, launched in November 2023. DeepSeek-V2 adopted in May 2024 with an aggressively-cheap pricing plan that brought on disruption within the Chinese AI market, forcing rivals to decrease their costs.
The firm’s present LLM fashions are DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1. Both have spectacular benchmarks in comparison with their rivals however use considerably fewer sources due to the best way the LLMs have been created. DeepSeek-V3 is a general-purpose mannequin, whereas DeepSeek-R1 focuses on reasoning duties.
DeepSeek has been in a position to develop LLMs quickly by utilizing an revolutionary coaching course of that depends on trial and error to self-improve. So, in essence, DeepSeek’s LLM fashions study in a approach that is much like human studying, by receiving suggestions primarily based on their actions. They additionally make the most of a MoE (Mixture-of-Experts) structure, so that they activate solely a small fraction of their parameters at a given time, which considerably reduces the computational price and makes them extra environment friendly.
TL;DR – What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek presents AI of comparable high quality to ChatGPT however is totally free to make use of in chatbot kind. It lacks a few of the bells and whistles of ChatGPT, significantly AI video and picture creation, however we would anticipate it to enhance over time.
To use DeepSeek as a chatbot you possibly can merely head over to DeepSeek.com and click on on Start Now. You’ll must create an account to make use of it, however you possibly can login together with your Google account for those who like.
Alternatively, you possibly can obtain the DeepSeek app for iOS or Android, and use the chatbot in your smartphone.
DeepSeek worth: how a lot is it and might you get a subscription?
You needn’t subscribe to DeepSeek as a result of, in its chatbot kind no less than, it is free to make use of. The DeepSeek chatbot defaults to utilizing the DeepSeek-V3 mannequin, however you possibly can swap to its R1 mannequin at any time, by merely clicking, or tapping, the ‘DeepThink (R1)’ button beneath the immediate bar.
If you wish to use DeepSeek extra professionally and use the APIs to hook up with DeepSeek for duties like coding within the background then there’s a cost. Currently, it’s simply $0.55 per mission enter tokens and $2.19 per million output tokens. This compares very favorably to OpenAI‘s API, which prices $15 and $60.
DeepSeek and ChatGPT: what are the principle variations?
While its LLM could also be super-powered, DeepSeek seems to be fairly primary compared to its rivals in terms of options. In phrases of chatting to the chatbot, it is precisely the identical as utilizing ChatGPT – you merely kind one thing into the immediate bar, like “Tell me about the Stoics” and you will get a solution, which you’ll then broaden with follow-up prompts, like “Explain that to me like I’m a 6-year old”. The solutions you will get from the 2 chatbots are very comparable.
What you will discover most is that DeepSeek is proscribed by not containing all of the extras you get withChatGPT. For occasion, you will discover that you could’t generate AI pictures or video utilizing DeepSeek and you do not get any of the instruments that ChatGPT presents, like Canvas or the flexibility to work together with personalized GPTs like “Insta Guru” and “DesignerGPT”.
If you’re a ChatGPT Plus subscriber then there are a selection of LLMs you possibly can select when utilizing ChatGPT. In DeepSeek you simply have two – DeepSeek-V3 is the default and if you wish to use its superior reasoning mannequin you need to faucet or click on the ‘DeepThink (R1)’ button earlier than coming into your immediate.
There are additionally fewer choices within the settings to customise in DeepSeek, so it’s not as simple to fine-tune your responses. In brief, DeepSeek feels very very like ChatGPT with out all of the bells and whistles. We examined each DeepSeek and ChatGPT utilizing the identical prompts to see which we prefered.
DeepSeek and ChatGPT: key variations
DeepSeek: free to make use of, less expensive APIs, however solely primary chatbot performance.
ChatGPT: requires a subscription to Plus or Pro for superior options.
One of one of the best options of ChatGPT is its ChatGPT search function, which was not too long ago made out there to all people within the free tier to make use of. This means that you can search the online utilizing its conversational method. DeepSeek additionally encompasses a Search function that works in precisely the identical approach as ChatGPT’s.
Finally, you possibly can add pictures in DeepSeek, however solely to extract textual content from them. ChatGPT however is multi-modal, so it may well add a picture and reply any questions on it you might have.
DeepSeek search and ChatGPT search: what are the principle variations?
AI search is likely one of the coolest makes use of of an AI chatbot we have seen to date. It allows you to search the online utilizing the identical type of conversational prompts that you just usually interact a chatbot with.
Just like ChatGPT, DeepSeek has a search function constructed proper into its chatbot. Just faucet the Search button (or click on it if you’re utilizing the online model) after which no matter immediate you kind in turns into an internet search. It could not get any simpler to make use of than that, actually.
Once you’ve got carried out your search, say for Pizza eating places in your metropolis, you possibly can ask follow-up questions, like “From those, if you had to choose one restaurant, which one would it be?”
DeepSeek will reply to your query by recommending a single restaurant, and state its causes. It’s this means to observe up the preliminary search with extra questions, as if have been an actual dialog, that makes AI looking out instruments significantly helpful.
Both ChatGPT and DeepSeek allow you to click on to view the supply of a selected suggestion, nonetheless, ChatGPT does a greater job of organizing all its sources to make them simpler to reference, and once you click on on one it opens the Citations sidebar for simple entry. In distinction, DeepSeek is a little more primary in the best way it delivers search outcomes.
How to make use of DeepSeek-R1 for deeper reasoning
DeepSeek-R1 is a complicated reasoning mannequin, which is on a par with the ChatGPT-o1 mannequin. These fashions are higher at math questions and questions that require deeper thought, so that they normally take longer to reply, nonetheless they’ll current their reasoning in a extra accessible style.
To use R1 within the DeepSeek chatbot you merely press (or faucet if you’re on cell) the ‘DeepThink(R1)’ button earlier than coming into your immediate. The button is on the immediate bar, subsequent to the Search button, and is highlighted when chosen.
When you ask your query you will discover that will probably be slower answering than regular, you will additionally discover that it seems as if DeepSeek is having a dialog with itself earlier than it delivers its reply. That is so you possibly can see the reasoning course of that it went by way of to ship it. It’s fairly fascinating!
How to modify to DeepSeek from ChatGPT
One factor to remember earlier than dropping ChatGPT for DeepSeek is that you just will not have the flexibility to add pictures for evaluation, generate pictures or use a few of the breakout instruments like Canvas that set ChatGPT aside.
If all you wish to do is ask questions of an AI chatbot, generate code or extract textual content from pictures, then you definitely’ll discover that at present DeepSeek would appear to fulfill all of your wants with out charging you something.
We additionally discovered that we received the occasional “high demand” message from DeepSeek that resulted in our question failing. However, DeepSeek is at present utterly free to make use of as a chatbot on cell and on the internet, and that is a terrific benefit for it to have.