Financial markets were electrified by the recent introduction of the Chinese AI app- DeepSeek. The even got sarcastic remarks from the US President Donald Trump, referring it to “a wake-up call” for the American tech industry.
DeepSeek has released an R1 AI model which claims to slash the cost of the development considerably compared to its competitors, thereby, asking bigger questions on where the AI industry will be going. The product called a “game-changer” has influenced major global companies to a significant extent by negatively affecting their values and has recently, the Hottest App in the US, with the most downloads in just one week.
However, how stable is DeepSeek in comparison with the domineering and high-billed AI tools in the US such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini?
DeepSeek vs ChatGPT- Two Writing Assistants Discussed
ChatGPT is preferred by many people because of its unique way of writing, which is very useful for a lot of things, like summarizing, and blogs. It is a tool trusted by many workers for the diverse writing tasks
As a test, I asked both the ChatGPT and the DeepSeek to summarize the list of the best Scottish football players in the past and also to write their draft blog post on the topic”.
It was a speed for DeepSeek to come out with a list of the top ten that had Kenny Dalglish of Liverpool and Celtic at number one. It gave a brief description of the player together with his playing position, clubs, and his achievements. Amply, DeepSeek did not forget the names of such celebrities as Rangers legend Brian Laudrup (Danish) and Celtic icon Henrik Larsson (Swedish), informing that Larsson was well-recognized in Scottish football. Its blog post contained additional information on Laudrup’s origin and provided a clear summary of the careers of the players.
ChatGPT´s response was closely related as it also mentions several of the names in the DeepSeek´s reaction with ‘King Kenny’ in the lead. Its blog post was accurate and comprehensive, and it was a summary of the players’ achievements. It was concluded with this statement: “Although the game has been evolving over time, the influence of these Scottish legends is still in existence.”
Advanced AI for Coding: How Does DeepSeek Compare?
In fact, the sophistication of the AI models has created a difference for those who code.
That being the case, when ChatGPT went down last week, X was full of humorous posts from developers who said they could not do their jobs without the faithful tool at their side.
An AI researcher named Javier Aguirre at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, specialises in researching in medicine and AI technology.
On Tuesday, In a post on LinkedIn, he wrote: “I am quite impressed with Deepseek. While coding, we usually try to explode AI chatbots to the limit to see their capabilities in assisting with coding.
“Today I had a really tricky and complex problem. Even chatGPT o1 was not able to reason enough to solve it. I gave a try to Deepseek and it solved it at once and straight to the point.”
He emphasized that the power of combining these models can have a very great potential effect on coders. Addy Osmani, Head of Chrome Developer Experience at Google, expressed the same view.
In a post to his 208k followers on LinkedIn he talked about combining DeepSeek with the tool – Claude Sonnet – belonging to US AI firm Anthropic, which Amazon invested $4bn into in 2023.
Mr Osmani said: “Code with AI? DeepSeek R1 + Claude Sonnet may be the best new hybrid coding model. Yes, engineers are using them together.”
Mr Osmani added DeepSeek was also “significantly cheaper” to use than either Claude Sonnet and OpenAI’s o1 model.
Brainstorming Ideas: DeepSeek vs ChatGPT
Now, for a brainstorming session that requires more creativity, such as coming up with ideas, how would these two applications compare? Let me ask them both to brainstorm ideas for a “story for children about a boy who lives on the moon.
ChatGPT spit out six quick story ideas: a moon postman named Max was sent on an adventure, and Oliver became curious about the strange sounds of an alien orchestra. Without a doubt, none of those compare to Harry Potter or Roald Dahl, but they were great starting points for stimulating more refined ideas.
DeepSeek, on the other hand, had only one response-“Luna and the Boy Who Chased the Stars.” That story did not involve anyone named Luna, either, but instead discussed a boy named Milo who resided in the moon. At 387 words, the story was a complete, albeit simple, story rather than just a list of ideas.
While ChatGPT excelled at providing a range of creative ideas, DeepSeek took it one step further by creating an entire, even if simple, storyline. Both hold promise for engendering creativity, with variety found in what ChatGPT produced and DeepSeek sticking to a specific, detailed answer.
Learning and Research: DeepSeek vs ChatGPT
One of the classic challenges for AI chatbots is explaining complex historical events. To test their capabilities, I asked them to summarize how the First World War began.
Where the ChatGPT provided a breakdown with details on causes and key events of the war-the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914-a less-detailed DeepSeek showed a good result, in short, highlighting key points.
Where Google’s Gemini assistant was similarly capable to both, it added an extra layer of usefulness by underlining credible sources-for further exploration, say, the UK’s Imperial War Museum. All in all, DeepSeek held its own, proving it could compete with more established US rivals.
AI’s Future Potential: The Race Is On
The tasks I set underlined something very important: the “AI race” is still open. Despite the enormous investment of US companies, DeepSeek has shown that their pace can be matched and even emulated.
Comparing this with the history of innovation, University of Cambridge machine learning expert Professor Neil Lawrence likens the situation to the steam engine: “James Watt is credited with the invention, but he was really an improver of someone else’s design. It is quite possible that the next few waves of AI breakthroughs will be created by emerging rather than established players.
With the evolution of AI technology, the surface is just being scratched, and innovation can be left to both giants and newcomers.