Quirky DeepSeek: A look under the hood of China’s clever new open-source search engine

DeepSeek’s success and a technical paper it published last week suggest that Chinese AI developers can match their U.S. counterparts without the same access to expensive, high-end hardware that is at the heart of geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing. President Donald Trump said the app’s success should serve as “a wake-up call” for the U.S. tech sector.

WHAT TO KNOW

• What is DeepSeek?
  
• How does DeepSeek work?
  
• Is it safe to use?
• How did DeepSeek do it?
• What makes DeepSeek different from ChatGPT?
• How have markets and Silicon Valley reacted to DeepSeek?

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What does DeepSeek show about China’s AI capabilities?

China’s government has — like its U.S. counterpart — made AI a national priority and said it wants to be the world leader in AI technology by 2030. The country has also invested huge amounts of money into AI research and technology, in much the same way U.S. companies have poured billions into AI data centers and development over the past two years.…On Monday, the White House accused the Biden administration of allowing China to catch up to the United States in AI tech, though it is unclear whether Trump will move to impose even stricter controls on AI exports.

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