The DeepSeek chatbot, known as R1, responds to user queries just like its U.S.-based counterparts. Early testing released by DeepSeek suggests that its quality rivals that of other AI products, while the company says it costs less and uses far fewer specialized chips than do its competitors.

The Chinese firm said training the model cost just $5.6 million. Microsoft alleges DeepSeek ‘distilled’ OpenAI’s work.