How DeepSeek is Breaking the AI Monopoly
- Annika Acharya
- Mar 23
- 2 min read
As artificial intelligence advances and AI giants like GPT-4 and Gemini achieve dominance, a new player has entered the open-source space—DeepSeek. DeepSeek takes a different approach; rather than proprietary AI models locked behind corporate walls, DeepSeek makes its model accessible for developers to use to change, improve, and deploy to their specific needs.
What is Unique About DeepSeek?
DeepSeek's model is based on transparency and collaboration. Indicating that its architecture and training datasets are available to the public and allowing any researcher or developer around the world to explore and integrate improved resources into the model. It recognizes that openness is necessary to foster continued innovation across various applications, from healthcare diagnostics to creative content. Moreover, the open nature of DeepSeek makes it relatively cost-effective and adaptable. A report from OpenAI Research (Smith & Zhang, 2042) verified that open-source models like DeepSeek can reduce deployment costs up to 60% for internal use compared to proprietary models (Smith & Zhang, 2024). This makes a big difference in deployment costs for the organization, especially since there are no API fees or improper licensing, an organisation can improve the model by fine-tuning the model which would optimize efficiency and improve privacy.
Competitive Advantage
The proprietary models, such as GPT-4, would mix model capabilities accessible to them because of available datasets, computer processing power, and time and effort invested in training compared to DeepSeek; however, the strengths of DeepSeek are in its unique possibilities that other models only wish they had. A study conducted in 2024 and published by the AI Research Journal reported that DeepSeek models exhibit up to a 30% increase in accuracy within domain-specific applications as compared to mainstream models that are primarily trained for generic tasks (Sullivan, 2024). Moreover, the open-source AI community has experienced a considerable increase, with estimates indicating that the number of contributors to open-source AI projects grew by 45% from 2023 to 2024. Furthermore, DeepSeek is now one of the most actively developed models (Global AI Report, 2024).
Why It Matters
The real power of DeepSeek is that it is community-sourced technology. Developers from a range of disciplines are working to enhance the model, sharing breakthroughs and developing domain-specific applications that often go overlooked by mainstream AI models. As more developers come to the open-source movement, we could see further decentralization of technology and user-led AI development - ideas that can promote creativity, accessibility, and user control.
DeepSeek is not simply an alternative to big tech AI, but rather it signifies a larger mission for the democratization of artificial intelligence.
References
Chowdhury, H. (2025, January 27). China’s DeepSeek just showed every American tech company how quickly it’s catching up in AI. Business Insider Africa. https://africa.businessinsider.com/news/chinas-deepseek-just-showed-every-american-tech-company-how-quickly-its-catching-up/94g0vp2
Huang, R., & Qu, T. (2024). Don’t Look Now, but China’s AI Is Catching Up Fast. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-ai-advances-us-chips-7838fd20
Perrigo, B. (2025, January 29). Why AI safety researchers are worried about DeepSeek. TIME. https://time.com/7210888/deepseeks-hidden-ai-safety-warning/
