• Cost: DeepSeek wins!
• Security: ChatGPT wins!
• Functionality: It's a draw!
• Accuracy and data sources: DeepSeek wins!

DeepSeek, a Chinese Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup, took the world by storm when it topped the free app download charts in the US, leading to decline of tech stocks there with Nasdaq tanking 3% a few weeks back. 

DeepSeek unseated OpenAI’s ChatGPT to be at the top in Apple’s App Store. The impact of its success was so great that it made US President Donald Trump describing it as "a wake-up call" for the American tech industry, while Vice President JD Vance, without mentioning DeepSeek in his remarks at the recently concluded AI Action Summit in Paris, emphasised how big of a priority it is for his country to lead the sector.

These reactions suggest that there is now a fear among world leaders that a more affordable AI model from China could challenge the dominance of US tech companies. Its dominance in no time raised questions over Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Alphabet spending billions in planning their AI platforms. 

So, the question arises where do we see China’s DeepSeek as compared to its much more established US rivals, especially OpenAI's ChatGPT? Lets’ find out.

Cost: DeepSeek's R1 AI model was made at low cost 

The most important point that made headlines was DeepSeek’s R1 AI model, which was made at a fraction of the cost of its rivals and can roughly match the performance of Open AI’s o1 model, as claimed by the company. The DeepSeek-V3 model was developed with an investment of only $5.6 Mn. 

However, the cost of using AI models has already plummeted, making them increasingly accessible to enterprises, according to a report by EY released last month. “OpenAI’s GPT API costs, for example, have dropped nearly 80% in two years, while open-source releases like Meta’s Llama are unlocking new capabilities. This cost is expected to fall to around INR120 per hour or low as India specific LLMs offerings become viable,” it said.

Assuming that the cost is US$4 per Mn tokens and the application uses 100 tokens per second continuously, the enterprise would spend US$1.44 per hour, the report said.

Security concerns: New research highlights ties with the Chinese government

According to media reports, security analysts have uncovered an obfuscated code within its chatbot web login page. It appears that this establishes connections with China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company banned from operating in the US due to national security concerns. After this, many US lawmakers has demanded the DeepSeek app to be banned from US government devices. 

Further, a survey revealed that about half of the Dutch population is sceptical about DeepSeek’s reliability and privacy practices. The study, conducted by Onderneming.nl, found that 48% of Dutch users expressed concerns about their personal data protection with DeepSeek as compared to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. About 63% of Dutch users make use of AI services like ChatGPT or Copilot, revealed the study. 

Purpose and functionality: Conversations vs research and analysis

ChatGPT is good for having conversations, while DeepSeek is designed for research and analysis .

ChatGPT can talk and write; therefore, it is good for having conversations. It has 175 Bn parameters, which make it one of the largest and most powerful models for AI processing available today. Its usage is growing in many occupations. People generally use it for writing e-mails, blogs, and stories.

While DeepSeek is better in finding quick information and designed for research and deep analysis. It uses advanced AI to search data to give the best answers. It focuses on deep data retrieval, analysis, helping users find highly specific information across large data sets. It is more specialised for research and data-intensive tasks.

Accuracy and data sources

ChatGPT doesn’t get updates in real time, while DeepSeek looks for real time updates.

ChatGPT knows a lot of information from the data it was trained on, but it doesn’t get updates in real time, according to experts. Therefore, it may not have the latest news or facts related to the topic searched. ChatGPT currently offers GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, o1, and o3-mini. It has more features as compared to DeepSeek.

Deepseek looks for information in real-time or gives a close answer. This makes it better in finding up-to-date details, like news or current affairs. DeepSeek offers DeepSeek V3, and DeepSeek R1. Moreover, its models are open, so anyone can download and run them. Users can even customise them.