All You Need to Know About DeepSeek: A Guide on What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters

If you’ve been on the internet recently, you could not have avoided the name ‘DeepSeek’, which has been making huge waves.

DeepSeek, a new open-sourced AI model, was developed by a team of Chinese AI research experts whose goal is to enable accessibility for all.

With such powerful technology being made free to use for all, DeepSeek has challenged other AI industry giants like OpenAI and Google, making it a disruptor that can change how AI develops.

With a high interest in DeepSeek, more and more people are keen to learn how DeepSeek differs from ChatGPT, how it can help them with easy or complex tasks, and whether it really does live up to all the alleged claims of outstanding performance and open-source flexibility.

In this guide, we’ve put together everything you need to know about DeepSeek, including how it differs from other AI tools and what experts think about it.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a large language model (LLM) a Chinese AI company. Using AI, DeepSeek can answer questions and statements with human-like intelligence. It can also process complex tasks, generate codes, and process large amounts of data quickly.

How Does It Work?

There are 3 main processing abilities that make up how it works. Below is how it processes information effectively :

• Language processing: To understand the context, structure or tone of prompts that are fed into its system, DeepSeek uses deep neural networks.
• Coding and Debugging: DeepSeek is optimized to help program or code but is also able to debug (find mistakes and explain the error in a code that you feed it) in some of the most used coding languages.
• Problem Solve and Reason: Problem-solving is one of its core capabilities as it excels at using multi-level thinking to produce solutions. It usually processes problems with pattern recognition and logical deduction and is able to break down into smaller chunks of information to solve any tasks provided.

What is DeepSeek R1, and how is it different from other AI models?

When DeepSeek launched its technology, it was named DeepSeek R1, indicating ‘Release 1’.

On the surface, anyone who has experience using DeepSeek will quickly draw similarities with other popular AI models. However, there are a few key differences regarding DeepSeek AI. Let’s take a look at them :

• Open-Source: anyone can use and modify the software to their needs. DeepSeek R1, the primary model of DeepSeek, was released fully open-source, allowing anyone to modify it.
• Better logical and mathematical reasoning: According to Modular, an AI infrastructure software company, DeepSeek has performed better at structured problem-solving tasks when compared to other AI.
• Superior coding performance: In studying DeepSeek R1, Modular also claims that when evaluated against other peer, closed-source models, DeepSeek has outperformed in coding benchmarks.

Is DeepSeek Free?

DeepSeek is completely free to use aside from having open-source flexibility, which allows you to modify it.

If you’re wondering about paid versions like ChatGPT that will provide ‘better’ output, for the moment, there isn’t one available for DeepSeek.

However, taking into account its growing popularity, there might be premium versions made available to purchase in the future. Best to keep an eye out for them for now!

Features of DeepSeek and Our Experience Using DeepSeek

We believe it’s only fair that we put DeepSeek to a test to truly find out what its key features are and how it performs in order to write about the user experience that we got through this exercise.

In order to test this, we decided to use the prompt below to look at how it performs. The reason why we chose this prompt is because it is able to answer some major questions we’ve had about DeepSeek’s features such as:

• Can Deepseek generate organized answers which also include insights which are specific to the industry?
• Is DeepSeek able to analyze, research and reason its outputs?
• What about providing outputs which are broken down into logical, bite sized information?
• And finally, can it provide technical data and balance that information with real applications?

So, the prompt that we tested DeepSeek with was:

‘As the new business development manager, I am developing a market entry strategy for an electric vehicle (EV) startup in Southeast Asia. Provide a structured analysis covering the below topics that will be presented to the company:

1. Market demand and trends

2. Key competitors and their strengths/weaknesses

3. Regulatory challenges and incentives

4. Consumer pain points and how to address them

5. A recommended business model and pricing strategy based on local conditions’

Here’s my take on DeepSeek’s features and User Experience after running the prompt above :

First Impression

DeepSeek’s UX and UI are very simple. Like ChatGPT, you can create an account via Google to save your conversations.

In fact, the response time to generate the answers to the prompt was approximately 15 seconds, which is pretty fast, although there were many layers to the question that was asked.

The response provided was also quite structured and logical. It categorized the response with numbers, bullets, and bolded important sub-topics, which made reading very easy.

Much like ChatGPT again, Deepseek can also allow you to ‘regenerate response’ if you are unhappy with the output.

However, upon clicking ‘regenerate response’ we find that the answers were not significantly different. There were some additional pointers but most were reworded.

(Different answers are highlighted in green in the first response and yellow in the second response. The rest of the answers remain the same)

Important Key features

In its responses, it was pretty surprising to note that DeepSeek was able to provide answers that were well thought out instead of just stating obvious factors.

For example, when answering the Market Demands and Trends for EVs, it provided data supporting its claims.

Solid Industry Specific Insights

Another feature that surprised us was its ability to include specific industry examples when providing recommended business and pricing strategies.

For example, it specifically named the two giant ride-hailing companies based in Southeast Asia.

DeepSeek vs ChatGPT

Many of us are familiar with ChatGPT. But have you ever wondered how it performs compared to DeepSeek?

We were curious to see how the two models performed against each other. Therefore, we decided to experiment by feeding both AI models the same prompt to see their outcomes. Are they really different?

We used the same prompt as above to see how both models perform.

Overall, DeepSeek performed much better as the output was quite detail-oriented, included relevant examples, and was more focused. ChatGPT was not far behind, however, and noticeably lacked details in its output, with shorter, more straightforward sentences and a much broader approach than DeepSeek.

ChatGPT’s answers :

DeepSeek’s answer: The highlighted section in green shows the depth of output provided vs ChatGPT’s general overview

What’s in Store for DeepSeek’s Future?

Perhaps one of the most interesting things for anyone following DeepSeek like us, is the question of ‘what’s next for DeepSeek?’

Some of the key plans that industry leaders predict DeepSeek will roll out include:

• Adding different features: Additional features like real-time web access and industry-specific fine-tuning are something that might be added to the later versions of DeepSeek as features.
• More integrations: Its open-source nature will enable many more integrations to be introduced, particularly those that are helpful for developers.
• Paid versions – DeepSeek is free, but most think this will not last too long. They foresee paid versions or premium features being charged for.

Impacts of DeepSeek and AI Technology in General

The introduction of DeepSeek shook the world as a worthy competitor to existing AI models and technology available.

However, it also has caused multiple impacts to the world. Let’s take a look at some of the effects of DeepSeek.

• Lowering the cost of AI: While the price of use for AI technology was already lowering before DeepSeek, its launch only further accelerated the cost reduction. DeepSeek’s technology, which is 30x cheaper, lowers barriers for other companies to create their own AI models, driving prices even lower.
• Usage of AI will increase opportunities: While it is still early days, the impact of AI’s growth with the reation of newer models like DeepSeek will further accelerate its evolution and create more opportunities for many people.
• Growing concern over privacy: While DeepSeek’s open-source flexibility is an advantage to many, some are also growing concerned about privacy security. Because the model can be modified, the possibility of it being modified for harmful reasons still exists. Will it be more closely moderated to ensure that this does not happen?

Opinions in the Industry of Deepseek

Many key opinion leaders agree that DeepSeek stands out in several areas compared to the rest within the industry. They also find that its programming capabilities are far superior, which will positively impact many.

According to TechCrunch, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook mentioned that DeepSeek is the perfect example of ‘innovation drives efficiency’. He continues to say that it is a positive thing based on what he sees when he uses DeepSeek.

However, some critics argue that the technology may not be sustainable, especially with the privacy concerns it can pose to society.

We feel incredibly optimistic about DeepSeek’s launch, primarily because of its open-source flexibility. This free-for-all setup allows smaller companies or individuals to use it, not just limited to those with the most money.

Conclusion

DeepSeek’s launch is undoubtedly one of the biggest tech news this year, based on how it shook many of its competitors and providers like NVIDIA.

Its capabilities of handling programming and technical tasks are superior to other models launched prior. With the ability to still improve, it is fascinating to see how much more complexity DeepSeek can handle.

That said, there is still a lot of room for growth for DeepSeek as the ‘new kid on the block’. Newer companies will emerge while industry giants like OpenAI will continuously improve to remain relevant.

Can DeepSeek match the pace of AI technology and come out a winner? Or will it succumb to newer players or industry giants with deeper pockets? Only time will tell!