'Invigorating to have a new competitor': Sam Altman on DeepSeek
What's the story
Amid the frenzy surrounding Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek, OpenAI is on alert.
The CEO of the US-based AI firm, Sam Altman said, "We will obviously deliver much better models and also it's legit invigorating to have a new competitor! We will pull up some releases."
To note, DeepSeek owned by Chinese billionaire Liang Wenfeng, has been making waves with its large language models (LLMs).
They have outperformed many famous American AI models while being trained at fraction of the cost.
Model recognition
Altman acknowledges DeepSeek's impressive model
Altman also acknowledged the impressive capabilities of DeepSeek's R1 model, especially its cost-effectiveness.
He said on X, "DeepSeek's R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price."
The recognition comes as DeepSeek's V3 and R1 models have been widely praised by Silicon Valley executives and US tech company engineers for their advanced capabilities.
Cost comparison
DeepSeek's models are cheaper than OpenAI's
DeepSeek's models have not just matched the sophistication of OpenAI and Meta's most advanced models but also turned out to be more affordable.
The recently launched DeepSeek-R1 is said to be 20 to 50 times cheaper than OpenAI's o1.
This cost-effectiveness has played a major role in DeepSeek's rapid rise in the AI industry.
Market impact
DeepSeek's rise impacts market and tops App Store
The meteoric rise of DeepSeek has already affected AI stocks, wiping nearly a trillion US Dollars in market cap from such companies.
The start-up's free AI app recently dethroned OpenAI's ChatGPT as the leading free app on the Apple App Store in the US and a few other nations.
This is likely to eat into the market share of leading US AI companies and even lower prices.
Industry reactions
Salesforce CEO and Trump react to DeepSeek's rise
Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, who called DeepSeek 'Deepgold' in a post on X, emphasized how the start-up managed to top the App Store without NVIDIA supercomputers or $100 million.
US President Donald Trump also weighed in on DeepSeek's rise, calling it a "positive" development and a "wake-up call" for the country.