DeepSeek is a Chinese AI assistant developed by DeepSeek AI, a Hangzhou-based company owned by hedge fund High-Flyer. The system offers similar features to ChatGPT, is free to access and attracted global attention in early 2025 due to its rapid adoption and surprisingly low development costs.
What exactly is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a large language model that generates text, answers questions, writes code and analyses complex issues. The system was developed as an open-source alternative to closed models such as ChatGPT and Claude, meaning that the underlying code is publicly available.
The company DeepSeek AI was founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng. The breakthrough for the general public came in January 2025 with the launch of DeepSeek-R1, a model that performed similarly to OpenAI's o1 model in benchmarks. That DeepSeek did this with significantly less computing power attracted international attention from the AI industry.
DeepSeek is available as a web application, as a mobile app and via an API for developers. The basic version is free to use without a subscription, making it attractive for professionals who want to experiment with AI at no direct cost.
What is DeepSeek R1?
DeepSeek R1 is DeepSeek's reasoning model, launched in January 2025. It differs from standard language models in that it reasons step by step before giving an answer. You can follow the thought process: the model shows how it tackles a problem, considers alternative solutions and corrects itself if it discovers an error.
This makes DeepSeek R1 particularly suitable for mathematical problems, logical reasoning and complex analysis tasks where the intermediate steps are as important as the final answer. For business applications where transparency in the reasoning process is valuable, this sets it apart from more generalist models.
R1 operates on a Mixture-of-Experts architecture: several specialised submodels work together, with each task being forwarded to the most appropriate submodel. This increases efficiency without the full capacity of the model being active on every demand.
How does DeepSeek work technically?
DeepSeek uses a large language model as its foundation, similar to the architecture behind ChatGPT and Claude. The system analyses your input, recognises patterns based on training data and generates a response token by token.
The technical distinction lies in the training approach. DeepSeek claimed that the V3 model was trained at a fraction of the cost of comparable western models, mainly due to more efficient use of available GPU capacity. Independent analyses nuanced that claim: the amount quoted covered only the pre-training phase, not the full development cost. Nevertheless, the efficiency gains over competitors are real and relevant to the industry.
How large language models work technically and how they learn from training data, explains our article on how AI works step by step.
What can you do with DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is widely used for text generation, document analysis, programming support, research and mathematical problem solving. Its functions largely overlap with what you also know from ChatGPT: you give an instruction in plain language and the system generates a response.
One limitation is that DeepSeek cannot generate images. For visual content, you need a different model. For purely text-based tasks, it performs well compared to established alternatives, especially given its free accessibility.
DeepSeek works best for non-critical tasks: brainstorming, improving texts, supporting research and learning. Confidential business information is subject to caveats explained in the privacy section below. You can read more about what you can generally do with AI chatbots in our article on what generative AI is.
What are the privacy risks of DeepSeek?
DeepSeek stores user data on servers in China. This means that that data is covered by Chinese legislation, which may allow Chinese authorities to access corporate data of foreign users. For professionals working with confidential customer information, business strategies or personal data, this is a relevant risk.
In addition, DeepSeek displays demonstrable censorship on politically sensitive topics. Questions about the student uprising in Tiananmen Square are ignored or answered incorrectly. The model argues that Taiwan is part of China. This ideological steering can affect the reliability of information in specific domains.
The practical guideline for professional use: do not enter confidential business information, personal data or customer data into DeepSeek. This caution, by the way, also applies to free versions of Western tools. You can read more about privacy and other risks in AI use in our article on the risks of AI.
Is DeepSeek suitable for professional use?
For experimentation, learning and non-sensitive tasks, DeepSeek is a useful and freely accessible option. The free access makes it approachable to explore AI tools without subscription fees.
For professional use with confidential data, customer information or business strategies, DeepSeek is less suitable because of its server location in China and the privacy laws associated with it. In those situations, Western alternatives with clearer privacy guarantees are the better choice.
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