OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described Chinese startup DeepSeek’s R1 artificial intelligence model as “impressive,” adding that the entry of a new competitor was “invigorating.”
Despite the praise, Altman emphasized OpenAI’s belief that greater computing power remains central to its success.
DeepSeek, a low-cost Chinese AI model, captured global attention last month when it revealed in a paper that training its DeepSeek-V3 model required under $6 million in computing power. This was achieved using the less advanced Nvidia H800 chips.
Deepseek also shook the grounds this week, causing Nvidia, in particular, to suffer a historic one-day loss of $593 billion in market value on Monday, the largest single-day drop recorded on Wall Street.
The newly launched DeepSeek-R1 is reportedly 20 to 50 times more affordable than OpenAI’s o1 model, depending on the task, according to a post on DeepSeek’s official WeChat account.
“DeepSeek’s r1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price,” Altman commented on social media platform X. “But mostly we are excited to continue to execute on our research road map and believe more computing is more important now than ever before to succeed at our mission,” he added.
DeepSeek’s rapid rise has sparked questions about the rationale behind some U.S. tech giants’ multi-billion-dollar AI investments. The company’s emergence also shook the market, with several major tech players, including Nvidia, seeing declines in share value.
