Global tech shares have fallen as the new Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek has shocked the world with its capabilities.
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has progressed increasingly quickly – but this new release may have blown Western models out of the water.
Newstalk’s Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly joined The Pat Kenny Show to explain what is so special about this recent development.
“It was thought that [AI development] was so expensive that only the big tech players could enter this game, everyone else had to be kept out,” she said.
“Then all of a sudden on Monday morning rumblings emerged of a company called DeepSeek.
“This is a Chinese company that has managed to produce an application that’s now the number one app downloaded in the US.
“It functions very similarly to ChatGPT or to Microsoft Copilot or Meta’s Llama – but it’s cost a fraction [compared to] those big tech companies.”
The Chinese AI app DeepSeek in Apple's us App Store on an iPhone 12. In the ranking of free apps, DeepSeek was even ahead of ChatGPT from OpenAI. Credit: Christoph Dernbach/dpa/Alamy Live News. 27th Jan, 2025.However, Jess said the model falls down when it comes to political content.
“[If you ask] ‘Who’s responsible for Tiananmen Square?’ [it says], ‘I can’t answer that question, I’m here to help you with the efficiencies throughout your day’,” she said.
“So, there are limitations, that is something that’s quite common with applications that are produced in China.
“But the key thing here is the wake-up call that the tech firms in the US have received because we know that there’s been a huge amount of money spent to develop OpenAI and others like it.”
Older tech
According to Jess, the model uses slightly older tech that is no longer exported to China.
“It was produced using chips that are not state of the art, they’re not the newest, they’re not the greatest, they’re not the most expensive,” she said.
"They are chips that were secured before there was the export ban from the US to China.
“So, the Nvidia chips, they were secured two years ago, they were hung onto and then they were utilised – they're the older chips.
“I suppose it’s a test case to show that this type of technology and computing power can be produced with technology that already exists.”
Jess said the “innovation race” between China and the United States is one to watch.
Main image: DeepSeek and ChatGPT icons seen in an iPhone. Image: Koshiro K / Alamy Stock Photo. 14 May 2024
