What is DeepSeek? AI app gains popularity on Apple and Play store charts
What is DeepSeek? AI app gains popularity on Apple and Play store charts
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DEEPSEEK is a Chinese AI app which is taking the Apple and Google Play stores by storm. The AI start-up's rapid rise has sent waves through tech spaces, as it marks a big shift in the market's status quo. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, the chief of AI-driven quant hedge fund High-Flyer.
![[Smartphone displaying the DeepSeek app.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/newspress-collage-p93tkw581-1737977257321.jpg?1737977283&strip=all&w=960)
The software that the company creates is open source, which means it can be accessed and improved by anyone. As the software is open source, it has rocked the world’s expectation that China would keep the secrets of their AI technology quiet. It has also caused waves in Silicon Valley, which is often considered to be in a global AI arms race with China.
![[ChatGPT logo on a phone screen with a blurred background.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/newspress-collage-s705b6fzt-1737977285451.jpg?1737977345&strip=all&w=960)
On January 25, 2025, DeepSeek became the highest-rated app on the US app store surpassing ChatGPT. Chat GPT is now in second place. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen described DeepSeek as “one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I’ve ever seen”.
DeepSeek is free to download on the app store and there is no subscription fee to continue using the app. Fans of DeepSeek particularly enjoy the fact that it breaks down the AI’s thought process clearly, unlike its competitors. It is thought that this process makes fact checking much easier, as it is easy to see how the AI came to its conclusion.
The release of the app comes after Donald Trump vowed to make the US into the “world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto”. Trump was thwarted in his first efforts to do this though by “first buddy” Elon Musk, who bashed the president’s $500 billion AI deal.
