What Concerns the U.S. About the Ascendancy of DeepSeek?
What concerns the U.S. regarding the ascent of DeepSeek?
TroibNews 
The emergence of Chinese AI company DeepSeek has ignited intense discussions worldwide recently. Its rapid ascent to the top of the free app download charts in the U.S. Apple App Store—surpassing the previously dominant ChatGPT—has also resulted in a significant decline in the stock prices of several American tech companies.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to DeepSeek's rise as a "wake-up call" for American industries. In addition, Axios reported Thursday that U.S. congressional offices were alerted that the use of DeepSeek was "unauthorized for official House use."
What is driving such concern—indeed, anxiety—surrounding DeepSeek's growth in the U.S.? Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account linked to China Media Group, provided three main reasons, drawing from insights provided by the China Academy of Industrial Internet.
1. Cost-effective disruption to the U.S. AI model monopoly
DeepSeek is transforming the efficiency of AI development by delivering high-caliber performance at a significantly reduced cost. While it has been reported that OpenAI spent $78 million to train GPT-4, DeepSeek managed to achieve comparable results with less than $6 million. By innovating a more effective training methodology, DeepSeek has lowered the barriers to entry for AI, making large-scale pre-training more accessible to organizations beyond the tech giants.
Furthermore, DeepSeek's recently introduced DeepSeek-R1 is available at only $2.2 per million tokens, in stark contrast to OpenAI's o1 model, which costs $60 per million tokens. This development presents a more affordable option, paving the way for research institutions, enterprises, and knowledge-driven industries to leverage AI.
Through groundbreaking advancements in both training and inference, DeepSeek is redefining the AI landscape, establishing new benchmarks for efficiency and accessibility while challenging conventional paradigms.
2. Innovative approach sparks panic among U.S. tech professionals
DeepSeek has managed to drastically reduce development costs through a unique training methodology. Unlike OpenAI, which relies on substantial computational resources, DeepSeek enhances efficiency by employing advanced algorithms to filter, summarize, and selectively process training data. This technique not only significantly cuts expenses but also boosts performance.
The ramifications are already noticeable. Despite Meta investing heavily in training its AI model Llama, it has been unable to surpass DeepSeek, which operates with a much lower expenditure. This situation has led Meta executives to reevaluate their spending and efficiency, increasing anxiety among U.S. tech professionals who fear for their careers and expertise.
3. China's AI models are gaining momentum
The China Academy of Industrial Internet has noted that from Q4 2023 to Q1 2025, the disparity in AI model capabilities between China and leading international companies has decreased by nearly 75 percent. This data implies that DeepSeek's emergence is not an isolated occurrence but part of a wider strategic growth in AI within China.
The report also sheds light on global AI investment patterns, revealing that China has secured the second-largest AI investment at $5.5 billion, while the U.S. has attracted $64.1 billion. While this highlights the U.S.'s continued lead in funding, it also indicates that China possesses considerable potential for future growth in the AI sector.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to DeepSeek's rise as a "wake-up call" for American industries. In addition, Axios reported Thursday that U.S. congressional offices were alerted that the use of DeepSeek was "unauthorized for official House use."
What is driving such concern—indeed, anxiety—surrounding DeepSeek's growth in the U.S.? Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account linked to China Media Group, provided three main reasons, drawing from insights provided by the China Academy of Industrial Internet.
1. Cost-effective disruption to the U.S. AI model monopoly
DeepSeek is transforming the efficiency of AI development by delivering high-caliber performance at a significantly reduced cost. While it has been reported that OpenAI spent $78 million to train GPT-4, DeepSeek managed to achieve comparable results with less than $6 million. By innovating a more effective training methodology, DeepSeek has lowered the barriers to entry for AI, making large-scale pre-training more accessible to organizations beyond the tech giants.
Furthermore, DeepSeek's recently introduced DeepSeek-R1 is available at only $2.2 per million tokens, in stark contrast to OpenAI's o1 model, which costs $60 per million tokens. This development presents a more affordable option, paving the way for research institutions, enterprises, and knowledge-driven industries to leverage AI.
Through groundbreaking advancements in both training and inference, DeepSeek is redefining the AI landscape, establishing new benchmarks for efficiency and accessibility while challenging conventional paradigms.
2. Innovative approach sparks panic among U.S. tech professionals
DeepSeek has managed to drastically reduce development costs through a unique training methodology. Unlike OpenAI, which relies on substantial computational resources, DeepSeek enhances efficiency by employing advanced algorithms to filter, summarize, and selectively process training data. This technique not only significantly cuts expenses but also boosts performance.
The ramifications are already noticeable. Despite Meta investing heavily in training its AI model Llama, it has been unable to surpass DeepSeek, which operates with a much lower expenditure. This situation has led Meta executives to reevaluate their spending and efficiency, increasing anxiety among U.S. tech professionals who fear for their careers and expertise.
3. China's AI models are gaining momentum
The China Academy of Industrial Internet has noted that from Q4 2023 to Q1 2025, the disparity in AI model capabilities between China and leading international companies has decreased by nearly 75 percent. This data implies that DeepSeek's emergence is not an isolated occurrence but part of a wider strategic growth in AI within China.
The report also sheds light on global AI investment patterns, revealing that China has secured the second-largest AI investment at $5.5 billion, while the U.S. has attracted $64.1 billion. While this highlights the U.S.'s continued lead in funding, it also indicates that China possesses considerable potential for future growth in the AI sector.
Frederick R Cook for TROIB News
