Chinese tech firms have dismissed foreign concerns regarding the emerging chatbot developer DeepSeek, expressing confidence in the ability of the nation's startups to excel in the global artificial intelligence arena.
DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, recently gained significant attention for its R1 chatbot, which impressed industry experts by delivering capabilities comparable to those of Western counterparts at a significantly lower cost. However, worries about the app's user data management have led several countries, including South Korea, Italy, Australia, and certain U.S. states, to impose bans or restrictions on its usage.
"China has encountered various limitations in recent years, particularly from the U.S.," stated Sun Dasheng, an employee at AI server manufacturer Puersai Computer, during the Global AI Developers' Conference in Shanghai.
"Our nation is currently making every effort to advance," he added. Sun's optimism was shared by other participants at the conference, who prominently featured DeepSeek's open-source software in their promotional materials, despite the company's absence from the event. The venue showcased humanoid robots, including one that captivated millions during a recent Lunar New Year broadcast on state television.
Mark Feng, a product manager at Mobvoi, stated, "With the availability of the R1 model, we anticipate significant advancements in industries and products associated with large language models." Lian Feng, an employee at Shanghai's Tiangang AI Trading Platform, remarked to AFP that prior to the rise of DeepSeek, there was a prevailing belief that China could not develop a large AI model comparable to those in the United States. He noted that China's ability to create such advanced software, coupled with its control over substantial portions of the supply chain, provides it with a competitive advantage over the U.S.
US President Donald Trump referred to the launch of DeepSeek as a "wake-up call" for American businesses, emphasizing the low cost at which the R1 application was developed. DeepSeek reported an expenditure of only $5.6 million on the project, a small fraction compared to a $500 billion AI initiative backed by Trump. Lian likened DeepSeek's success to the launch of Android in 2008, which emerged as a more affordable and ultimately more popular alternative to Apple's iPhone, which had previously dominated the smartphone market. He explained that the high cost of iPhones had hindered the rapid expansion of smartphones and the mobile internet era.
Lian expressed confidence that DeepSeek would significantly transform the generative AI landscape, similar to how Android fundamentally changed the smartphone sector. Sun from Puersai Computer shared with AFP that he believes there is still considerable potential for growth, predicting a more promising future in the next three to five years.
