A Chinese artificial intelligence startup’s rapid ascent in the AI space has sparked both security concerns and market ripples. DeepSeek, which recently surpassed OpenAI‘s ChatGPT on Apple Inc.‘s App Store, issued warnings about fake social media accounts impersonating its founder Liang Wenfeng.
“Again guys, this is not our Wenfeng,” posted Zizheng Pan, a DeepSeek researcher, on X, addressing fraudulent accounts mimicking the company’s leadership. The Hangzhou-based startup, founded in July 2023, maintains @deepseek_ai as its sole official X account.
DeepSeek’s R1 model has garnered attention for achieving comparable performance to leading AI models while using 97% less computing power. The company developed the system for under $6 million in just two months, challenging industry assumptions about necessary resources for advanced AI development.
This efficiency has rattled tech investors, contributing to notable declines in semiconductor stocks. NVIDIA Corp. NVDA and Broadcom Inc. AVGO faced significant selling pressure as markets processed the implications of DeepSeek’s cost-effective approach to AI development.
The startup competes directly with Meta Platforms Inc. META and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG in the rapidly evolving AI space, offering its technology at reportedly 50 times lower prices than competitors.
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