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From Hedge Fund to AI Powerhouse: The Rise of DeepSeek
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, DeepSeek has emerged as a formidable player, challenging established norms and setting new benchmarks. Founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, a former hedge fund entrepreneur from Guangdong, China, DeepSeek has made significant strides in AI development within a remarkably short period.
DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company specializing in the development of open-source large language models (LLMs). Based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company is solely funded by High-Flyer, a hedge fund co-founded by Liang Wenfeng. DeepSeek’s mission is to advance AI research and development, focusing on creating efficient and accessible AI models.
Innovative AI Models
One of DeepSeek’s notable achievements is the development of the DeepSeek-V3 model, a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model boasting 671 billion parameters, with 37 billion activated per token. This architecture allows for efficient inference and cost-effective training, utilizing Multi-head Latent Attention (MLA) and DeepSeekMoE architectures. The model was trained on 14.8 trillion diverse and high-quality tokens, followed by supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning stages to fully harness its capabilities.
Despite its massive scale, DeepSeek-V3 was trained using approximately 2,000 Nvidia H800 GPUs over 55 days, at a cost of around $5.58 million. This is significantly more resource-efficient compared to other leading AI models, which often require tens of thousands of GPUs and substantially higher budgets.
Open-Source Commitment
DeepSeek distinguishes itself by committing to open-source principles, making its generative AI algorithms, models, and training details freely available for use, modification, and viewing. This approach fosters collaboration and innovation within the AI community, contrasting with the more proprietary strategies of some industry counterparts.
The release of DeepSeek’s AI models has had significant global repercussions. On January 10, 2025, the company launched its first free chatbot app for iOS and Android, based on the DeepSeek-R1 model. By January 27, the app had surpassed ChatGPT as the most-downloaded free app on the U.S. iOS App Store, leading to a notable 18% drop in Nvidia’s share price. This success has been described as “upending AI” and initiating “a new era of A.I. brinkmanship.”
Looking Ahead
Despite its achievements, DeepSeek has faced scrutiny regarding data privacy and content bias. Concerns have been raised about the storage of user data in China and the potential for state access, as well as the chatbot’s adherence to Chinese censorship laws, which may influence its responses on sensitive topics.
DeepSeek’s rapid ascent in the AI sector underscores the dynamic and competitive nature of global AI development. By prioritizing efficiency, open-source collaboration, and innovative architectures, DeepSeek is poised to continue influencing the trajectory of artificial intelligence research and application.
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