Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has launched a “revolutionary” new image generator that it claims can outperform the best models built by US-based rivals at a fraction of the price.
DeepSeek describes its latest open-source AI model as “revolutionary”, offering developers and researchers unprecedented access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies through free-to-use platforms like GitHub and Hugging Face.
The launch of DeepSeek’s Janus-Pro comes just days after its R1 chatbot tool caused the stock of American tech giants to collapse amid fears that its low-cost and open-source models would upend their dominance.
It also marks a breakthrough in the way such models are trained and developed, with one of its generative AI models costing less than $6 million to build – compared to the billions it cost for the likes of ChatGPT.
DeepSeek’s Janus-Pro is free-to-use without restriction, unlike image generators built by US rivals like OpenAI and Stability AI.
