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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Is DeepSeek disrupting the AI disruptors?

Is DeepSeek disrupting the AI disruptors?

Published Feb 4, 2025 08:32 am

TECH4GOOD

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The artificial intelligence (AI)  landscape has seen a whirlwind of disruptions in the past week. DeepSeek, a China AI startup, shook the global AI industry by introducing a model requiring significantly fewer resources than those deployed by prominent Silicon Valley AI firms. It is taking the tech world by storm, with performance benchmarks rivaling US players at a fraction of the cost. While big names like OpenAI and Google AI have become synonymous with cutting-edge AI, Deepseek’s focused approach and impressive early results are raising eyebrows and prompting a crucial question: Could this relative newcomer be poised to disrupt even the most established AI disruptors in the field?


As the AI race heats up, DeepSeek’s rise underscores the growing competition between the US and China. The impact of this innovation can be seen from several angles. Its impact on technology, specifically the big data centers driven by powerful GPUs, is expected to be immense. It is also projected to intensify the tensions in the global AI race and technological supremacy, mainly between the US and China. We also need to look at its rate of global adoption, openness for collaborative innovation, and how investors react to this breakthrough innovation.    


DeepSeek’s meteoric rise has sent shockwaves through global markets, particularly affecting major technology stocks. It has shown that AI models can thrive even without massive resources, shifting the focus away from traditional tech giants like Nvidia. According to reports, the developers trained its model for just $5.6 million, a fraction of the billions spent by OpenAI, Meta, and Google on AI development. Considering US restrictions on advanced AI chips, this achievement is especially significant, showcasing DeepSeek’s ability to achieve results with less powerful hardware.


DeepSeek’s success in overcoming US export restrictions is potentially undermining the US’s dominance in AI innovation. Many Chinese tech companies are forced to adapt and find ways to overcome US export restrictions. They have shown so far that, just like the natural evolution of living things, they can adapt well at a fraction of the cost. They show the tech world that cutting-edge AI innovation may not always require the most advanced hardware.


However, experts have noticed that sensitive topics related to the Party are deeply restricted. Discussions of such topics are redirected toward solving “math, coding, and logic problems.” Some also questioned whether sensitive data would be secure with Deepsake. Experts have noted these constraints, but the app’s free access remains a significant threat to paid rivals.


After launching its AI Assistant on Jan. 10, DeepSeek surpassed ChatGPT to become the number one free app in the US App Store, amassing 1.6 million downloads. Its top positions in international markets such as China, the UK, and Singapore highlight its rapid global adoption. Its rise in mobile app rankings shows how rapidly it has resonated with users worldwide, reinforcing its role in reshaping the mobile AI ecosystem. DeepSeek  founder, Liang Wen Feng, has set a clear mission: to democratize access to AI and empower organizations to make smarter, data-driven decisions. DeepSeek’s strategy is to undercut premium models, making AI tools more accessible to everyone, including startups and enterprises. This innovation is trying to address two critical things to democratize AI: cost and energy consumption.


DeepSeek’s strategy challenges the notion that AI innovations require high-end chips, undermining Nvidia’s premium market position and proving that low-cost, efficient AI models can perform at a similar level. Its open-source platform also prioritizes collaboration over proprietary systems, further intensifying competition and reshaping the entire AI development landscape. By doing so, it is disrupting the traditional dominance of Western companies in AI innovation.


Growing awareness of DeepSeek’s new model caused a severe slump in technology stocks last week amid concerns of its possible impact in spending on the powerful graphics processing units required to train and run AI workloads. According to reports, the launch of DeepSeek has reportedly wiped nearly $1 trillion off the market value of major tech companies, including Nvidia, Meta, and Google. This sharp decline painted the market’s reaction to DeepSeek’s competitive edge, causing alarm in the tech sector. The same reports say Nvidia alone experienced a 16.86 percent drop, losing $600 billion in market value, the largest one-day loss in US stock market history. Despite the gigantic loss, Nvidia stock rallied during Tuesday’s session, up nearly nine percent by the close.
This groundbreaking innovation is disrupting the AI and tech sectors. It has disrupted the stock market, challenged US and OpenAI dominance, and undermined Nvidia’s role in AI infrastructure. It seems that this is just the opening salvo from China, however, as Alibaba also announced last week the release of its AI assistant, Qwen 2.5, which it says is much more powerful and cheaper than DeepSeek. The AI landscape is definitely getting interesting.

 

(The author is an executive member of the National Innovation Council, lead convener of the Alliance for Technology Innovators for the Nation (ATIN), vice president of the Analytics and AI Association of the Philippines, and vice president of UP System Information Technology Foundation. [email protected])

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