Flexing of Tech Muscles reach all-time High as Deepseek and ChatGPT Lock Horns in Heated Dominance

China took everyone to an unprecedented surprise in heated dominance in AI industry as Deepseek seemed to have knocked ChatGPT out of their perch. Deepseek programme was released on January 20, a week later it hits top of Apple’s App Store chart. Deepseek is a Chinese AI startup founded in 2023 by Laing Feng, an entrepreneur and businessman. In January, Deepseek released latest model of its programme- Deepseek R1, a free AI-powered chatbot with resemblance as ChatGPT, with improved features which leaves OpenAI company running behind. Chatbots are computer programmes which duplicate human-style conversation with a user. When a user ask questions it generates response from information it has been trained with.

Generative AI has become popular especially the ability to have conversations with a user, this is the aspect of the AI that has evolved human conversation, the response feel real but you can argue that it lacks the needed empathy to make it resonates. The reliance on generative AI has grown, people are looking at the most effective response that’s where heated dominance in tech industry will define the role of Deepseek and ChatGPT which goes down on users reliance as the most effective. Developers of Deepseek said it is cheaper to build, which followed the article they published on December stating that it require less than $6million. This is no way compared to multi-billion dollar budget shared between US tech giants; ChatGPT and Gemini, powered by OpenAI and US-owned Google respectively.

Related articles:

• Lustrous path of AI solutions

• The role of AI in shielding the world against the next pandemic

• The need for regulatory framework for AI

Nvidia, lost nearly $600billion in market capitalization, as a result of Deepseek exploits at its release, Nvidia, American multinational which holds almost monopoly on making semiconductors for generative AI recorded this lost when the share price declined by 17 percent. However, security issues surrounding Deepseek have been heavily feared by many countries as they tend to ban the AI software. US space agency  NASA, has prohibited Deepseek from its systems and devices of its employees, US Navy has admonished its members against using the software citing serious security concerns and handling of personal data, US lawmakers are not ruling out the possibility introducing a bill to ban the software from government owned devices.

Australia, Taiwan and South Korea have blocked Deepseek from government owned devices, while Italy is still seeking clarity on how Deepseek tend to use personal data and also citing security concerns. CEO of Feroot Security, an Ontario-based cybersecurity firm, Ivan Tsarynny, claimed that Deepseek “has code hidden in its programming which has the built-in capability to send user data directly to the Chinese government”. This has been the same security concerns surrounding Tiktok which led to the prospect of its ban in America. China refused to be side-lined in all these bans flying around their software and has replicated the retaliatory attack by blocking all users in China from access to Facebook, X and Deepseek counterpart, ChatGPT. It is about how these technologies evolve off security concerns and fear of mishandling of personal data.