OpenAI's Sam Altman calls DeepSeek 'impressive' but promises to launch 'much better models' soon

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OpenAI’s Sam Altman called DeepSeek’s viral AI model “impressive”
In response, he says, “we will obviously deliver much better models”
President Trump calls DeepSeek a “wake-up call” for US tech giants

China’s viral DeepSeek app has a missile-like name, and it’s blasted a hole in the stock prices and plans of ChatGPT and other AI giants. But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is – at least publicly – unperturbed by the unexpected new rival.

Commenting on X (formerly Twitter), Altman said DeepSeek’s R1 is an “impressive” model, and it’s hard not to hear that in the voice of Patrick Bateman during the American Psycho business card scene.

But Altman was also bullish about how OpenAI would respond. He added that “we will obviously deliver much better models” and that it’s “legit invigorating to have a new competitor”.

deepseek’s r1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price.we will obviously deliver much better models and also it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor! we will pull up some releases.January 28, 2025

The reason why DeepSeek has caused such commotion is because it’s both open-source and was built on less advanced Nvidia chips, which mean its development costs were comparatively tiny compared to major models like ChatGPT 4o.

Yet Altman doesn’t think this has changed the AI game. He doubled down on OpenAI’s vision, adding that the company believes “more compute is more important now than ever before to succeed at our mission” and that “the world is going to want to use a LOT of AI, and really be quite amazed by the next-gen models coming”.

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump doesn’t quite agree, calling the rise of DeepSeek a “wake-up call” for US tech giants. Talking to reporters on Air Force One, he added: “If you could do it cheaper, if you could do it [for] less [and] get to the same end result. I think that’s a good thing for us.”

Presumably, Trump only sees DeepSeek as a “good thing” as long as US AI giants learn quickly from its lessons, but that’s far from guaranteed…

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What happens next?

DeekSeek search.

(Image credit: DeepSeek)

DeepSeek’s short-term impact on AI is undeniable – the chip-making giant Nvidia suffered the biggest one-day market value dive in US history yesterday, after doubt was thrown on the need for its massive compute power in what could now be an age of radically more efficient models.

But what happens next is less clear. Almost immediately after DeepSeek hit the top of the App Store and Google Play Store in the US, the app was hit by a massive cyber-attack that saw it temporarily close its doors to new registrations.

More importantly, questions have now started to be raised about DeepSeek’s privacy and security policies. Its Privacy Policy explicitly states that “we store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China”.

That shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, but it does raise questions about whether the US and other countries could embark on a TikTok-style crackdown on Chinese AI models like DeepSeek – or at least dissuade consumers and businesses from using them in the meantime.

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