DeepSeek is free and open source, so what’s the point?

DeepSeek has been a whirlwind, quickly topping download charts in more than 140 countries around the world, and its impact has dazzled the U.S. artificial intelligence field.

Performance Impact

DeepSeek R1 outperformed or matched models such as OpenAI’s GPT 4o Meta’s Llama 3 in tasks such as mathematical reasoning code generation. For example, its success rate of 79 8 in the AIME 2024 math benchmark test is significantly higher than OpenAI’s similar model. This technological breakthrough directly shakes the long-standing technological leadership of U.S. companies.

Microsoft NVIDIA and other companies were shocked and quickly accessed the DeepSeek R1 model to keep their products competitive. At the same time, OpenAI accelerated model optimization and launched a low-cost version to respond to market pressure.

Cost Impact

DeepSeek R1 was developed in less than two months with only 2,048 NVIDIA H800 chips and $5.576 million in training costs, which is only 1 percent of the cost of similar models in the United States.

In contrast, OpenAI and Anthropic’s models cost hundreds of millions of dollars to train. This low-cost path is forcing U.S. companies to reexamine their high-investment, miracle-working R&D model.

U.S. companies are exploring lightweight models and reinforcement learning techniques in an attempt to replicate DeepSeek’s low-cost path. For example, Meta plans to optimize the training efficiency of the Llama family of models.

Open source onslaught

DeepSeek R1 is not only open source and free, but also allows users to freely modify and secondary development. This openness contrasts with the mainstream closed-source strategy in the United States, attracting a global developer ecosystem to turn to. For example, U.S. tech giants such as NVIDIA Amazon Microsoft have announced access to the DeepSeek R1 model to enhance the competitiveness of their own products.

DeepSeek’s open-source model is seen as a challenge to the closed-source hegemony of the U.S. Companies such as Meta that adhere to open source are pitted against OpenAI’s closed-source camp. Public opinion in Silicon Valley has begun to reflect on the value of open science, and believes that open source may become the core of future AI competition.

DeepSeek’s success proves that open-source models are comparable to closed-source giants in terms of performance and cost, and could trigger a global tilt toward open-source in the AI development paradigm. Developers are more likely to choose low-cost, customizable technologies, undermining the market dominance of U.S. closed-source companies.

Market impact

The release of DeepSeek R1 has triggered market concerns about highly valued AI companies, with the Nasdaq and chip stocks such as NVIDIA and TSMC falling sharply in pre-market and overnight trading, evaporating nearly a trillion dollars in market capitalization. The market has begun to question whether the high R&D investment of U.S. AI companies is sustainable.

DeepSeek concept stocks continue to be hot, Qingyun Technology Youkid Daily Interactive Anheng information are out of the 20CM stop, Huajin Capital Zhejiang East Zhejiang number culture Touwei information stop.

Investment Impact

U.S. investors are shaken by the high-cost-for-performance business model. For example, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, rarely admitted the need to adjust the open source strategy, while Anthropic CEO called for strengthening the control of chips in China to maintain technical barriers. U.S. companies have been forced to accelerate product iteration, with OpenAI launching a low-cost model, the o3 mini, in response to competition.

Ecological impact

DeepSeek’s open source strategy has attracted developers from around the world to form an ecosystem centered on Chinese technology, and its models have been integrated into NVIDIA’s NIM AWS and Azure AI platforms, further weakening U.S. companies’ ecological control.

DeepSeek’s success has pushed the spread of AI technology to developing countries, weakening the U.S. technology monopoly. For example, according to the Guardian, China’s open-source approach to breaking US control of AI discourse is driving global technological multipolarity.

Strategic Impact

The U.S. banned DeepSeek on national security grounds and accused it of stealing OpenAI’s work through vaporization. The White House launched an investigation into DeepSeek and tried to curb China’s AI development through export controls such as restricting the H20 chip. However, these measures have been criticized as double standards and have instead accelerated China’s technological autonomy.

The U.S. will continue to maintain its advantage through technological blockade, capital investment and ecological binding, while China relies on open-source innovation and hardware substitution, such as Huawei’s Rise chip, to break through the blockade. The competition between the two sides may accelerate the iteration of AI technology.

In short, the rise of DeepSeek not only shakes the technological advantage of American AI companies, but also exposes the vulnerability of their business models and policy frameworks. The response strategy of U.S. companies will determine the future direction of the global AI landscape, and the competition between open source and closed source The tug-of-war between geo-gaming and technological autonomy will become the core variable in this process.

Free is always the most expensive

DeepSeek technology leadership, not only open source, but also free, which makes so many friends puzzled, no commercial revenue, it will be how to promote technology iteration and continue to maintain the lead?

Open source projects can demonstrate technical strength and attract top developers to join the community or company.

Through open source to become the de facto standard of the industry, to master the ecological discourse, such as Linux Kubernetes, the formation of an ecological moat, the latecomer is difficult to copy the complete community and tool chain.

Open source transparency may reduce policy risks, especially in the areas of data privacy and AI ethical controversies.

Open source can collect user feedback to improve the product, or optimize the model through user behavioral data, which needs to comply with open source protocols and privacy regulations.

Free open source can lower the threshold of use and attract developers Enterprises can quickly adopt their technology to form the advantage of user base, and after users rely on their technology, they can be guided to paid platforms, such as GitHub free open source, enterprise-level paid services, or through advanced features, such as larger models, proprietary datasets, enterprise-level support, security audits, customized services, or cloud-hosted services, simplifying the deployment and profitability.

To summarize, DeepSeek’s open source and free is not charity, but rather openness in exchange for ecological dominance, and ultimately realize commercial value in multiple dimensions. This model is becoming more and more common in the AI field, the key is to see whether it can effectively transform the user base into sustainable income.

It can be expected that DeepSeek is only the basic version of the current launch, there are still heavy products on hand, when the basic users to reach a considerable scale, they will provide high-performance customized models for enterprises, financial institutions, government agencies and other units, at that time, is when they earn money, and the general public probability is that they do not need to pay.

Pictures are from the network, if any infringement, please contact to delete

The world is unpredictable, please add the author’s private WeChat, in case of any mishaps

Tap the star on the watch Support Mouse Mom!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *