DeepSeek live – all the latest news about the ChatGPT rival, as privacy concerns emerge

DeepSeek has turned the AI world upside down this week with a new chatbot that's shot to the top of global app stores – and rocked giants like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The reason why DeepSeek is such big news is because it's free, open source and appears to show it's possible to create chatbots that can compete with models like ChatGPT's o1 for a fraction of the cost.

It's a story that continues to develop by the minute too, as rivals like OpenAI and Nvidia publicly comment on the emergence of China's new AI disruptor, while the Australian government raises privacy concerns about DeepSeek.

Confused about DeepSeek and want the latest news on the biggest AI story of 2025 so far? We're covering all of the latest news here live below...

The latest DeepSeek news

• OpenAI's Sam Altman calls DeepSeek 'impressive' but promises to launch 'much better models' soon
• Don't get too attached to DeepSeek – it'll never survive in the US
• DeepSeek forced to pause new signups following large scale cyberattack
• DeepSeek has already dethroned ChatGPT – is it coming for Midjourney and DALL-E next?

A quick DeepSeek refresher

A bit confused about DeepSeek? Here's a quick primer. The free AI chatbot was actually released on January 20, but has exploded in popularity over the past few days as tech fans realized its significance. As the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen noted on X (formerly Twitter), "Deepseek R1 is AI's Sputnik moment".

The app is currently top of the free charts on Apple's App Store and Play Store in the US and many other countries, despite being made in China – which was the subject of a trade ban on advanced chips from the likes of Nvidia.

Ironically, it's those trade restrictions that appear to have sparked the ingenuity behind of DeepSeek, which was created using a tiny amount of the enormous compute power that's behind today's major AI models.

Benchmark tests show that it can perform tasks like answering questions and generating code as well as the current top AI models around. However, you may have trouble creating a DeepSeek account – it was forced to pause sign-ups following a major cyber-attack.

OpenAI's Sam Altman responds

OpenAI's Sam Altman has now publicly commented on DeepSeek for the first time, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that the AI model is "impressive" – and I can't help but hear that in the voice of Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho business card scene.

But he was also typically bullish about OpenAI's response, stating that "we will obviously deliver much better models" and that it's "legit invigorating to have a new competitor". Altman also doesn't think the news changes the picture in terms of chips, stating that "more compute is more important now than ever before to succeed at our mission".

The markets don't seem to agree, with the chip-making giant Nvidia suffering the biggest one-day market value dive in US history yesterday.

Will the DeepSeek hype last?

TechRadar's Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff has written a fine takedown of the DeepSeek hype – questioning whether the chatbot, which isn't yet multi-modal, is worthy of the column inches it's getting and (quite reasonably) suggesting that it's unlikely to last in the US, given TikTok's recent woes.

Commenting on the share price drops of Nvidia and others he notes "with almost no information or real proof that DeepSeek and its investors are being transparent and truthful, investors have started pulling their AI dollars from the US stock market."

Even if we do accept that DeepSeek is a breakthrough, there are understandable question marks about its longevity in the US. As Lance Ulanoff states "it doesn't matter how good it is; this app will not survive in the current US climate".

• Read more: Don't get too attached to DeepSeek – it'll never survive in the US