DeepSeek Wants To Stay Free As Of Now, Founder Rejects Monetization

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has rejected investor proposals to monetize his programs. Liang did not want to charge for DeepSeek's core AI models, which the company has open-sourced, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

DeepSeek aims to release its next reasoning, designed for solving complex problems by April, the report said.

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Liang joined Chinese executives who met leader Xi Jinping on February 17. According to sources, the state-owned Bank of China has offered to grant the company a low-interest loan.

The sources indicated that executives from China's Tencent Holding TCEHY and Alibaba Group Holding BABA have recently met Liang to discuss potential cooperation.

The Chinese artificial intelligence startup founder snubbed prospective investors, citing his preference for retaining the science project ethos.

Sources familiar with the matter say Wenfeng feared that outsiders would interfere in DeepSeek's decisions.

He noted that Beijing's connection could make winning the global adoption of DeepSeek's AI models harder.

DeepSeek chatbot's popularity caused frequent service hiccups and drew global sanctions due to data security concerns.

The Trump administration is considering restricting the Chinese artificial intelligence DeepSeek, including banning their chatbot from government devices.

Several U.S. allies, including Italy, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and Taiwan, have limited the use of DeepSeek. DeepSeek's handling of user data has sparked national security concerns.

When DeepSeek claimed that its AI model was built at a fraction of the cost of its U.S. rivals, it led to Nvidia Corp NVDA losing $600 billion in market cap in a single day. DeepSeek's AI model fueled a $1 trillion market wipeout.

Reportedly, the U.S. is probing DeepSeek for possible Nvidia chip embargo violations.

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