DeepSeek has emerged! Can ChatGPT stop the new AI overlord?
DeepSeek’s new open source model R1 released not long ago has shocked the world. Its equally outstanding performance and test data have also attracted a lot of discussion from netizens. For users, it means better performance and a lower price. The most important thing is that it is completely open source, and anyone can make their own contributions to this model, which can also be deployed to run on local computers. Compared to OpenAI, although the name emphasizes openness and open source, in fact, they all release commercial closed source models. Who would have thought that in this era of “gods fighting” in the field of AI, a DeepSeek from China would suddenly become the top app in the global app store, even knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT off the top!
DeepSeek reached the top overnight, and ChatGPT had to take a back seat
According to Appfigures, a mobile app analytics agency, DeepSeek’s mobile app has become the number one free app in the iOS store in the US and 51 countries around the world. Yes, you read that right, the US market has also been conquered! Not just any AI app can do that.
But DeepSeek’s rise this time is not based on “gimmicks” alone, but on real strength. Last week, they released a series of open AI models in succession, which directly made OpenAI and Google feel the crisis.
What does DeepSeek rely on to counterattack in the “money-burning” AI training?
In the process of developing AI by countless technology companies, training a top-level AI model often requires hundreds of millions of dollars in computing power, and the training costs of “big eaters” such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini can be prohibitive for many companies. These companies have also purchased a large number of advanced NVIDIA computing cards.
However, DeepSeek has “gone against the grain” and trained a model that can rival top-level AI at a lower cost. This is what shocked everyone. The cost of training DeepSeek is not even comparable to the annual salary of a top AI research scientist at Meta.
Moreover, the performance of DeepSeek’s AI chip is far inferior to that of Nvidia’s high-end GPU, which means that they have made an amazing breakthrough in training efficiency. It seems that there have been two major breakthroughs in algorithms, and people have also taken a step closer to thinking about computing power. Do we really need so many GPUs? Is it a waste to spend so much money on GPUs? Tensions in the market have also caused Nvidia’s stock price to plummet 17% on Monday, and the entire tech community is on edge.
Downloads are soaring, and the AI world is abuzz with excitement
If DeepSeek was previously just a dark horse, it is now one of the most sought-after “top streamers” in the field of AI.
Just last Friday, the number of downloads of DeepSeek’s mobile app from the App Store and Google Play had just exceeded 1 million. By Monday morning, that number had doubled to 2.6 million!
DeepSeek has skyrocketed to the top of the global charts and is now an international superstar!
According to Appfigures, DeepSeek’s mobile app has now entered the top ten of the App Store in 111 countries around the world, and it also has a presence in Google Play in 18 countries. In terms of Google search volume, the number of deepseek searches far exceeds those of other AI products and AI companies.
not only has it risen in the rankings, but the growth in DeepSeek’s data this time is simply unbelievable. Sensor Tower data shows that in the past seven days, more than 80% of DeepSeek’s total downloads have occurred in this week alone!
What’s more exciting is that during this period, DeepSeek’s downloads were nearly 300% higher than those of another popular AI app, Perplexity. You have to know that Perplexity, as an AI search tool, has always been a very commonly used tool and a leader among AI apps, always charging ahead on the global AI track. But this time, DeepSeek has directly “passed it around the bend” and left it behind, with its taillights nowhere in sight!
From “nobody” to App Store overlord in just a few days!
Time to go back to Sunday, January 26, when DeepSeek officially topped the US App Store and became the number one free app.
But do you know where it ranked a few days ago? —31st! This is a truly authentic “monster-slaying upgrade” speed, and DeepSeek has completed a “Jedi counterattack” in the AI competition!
The number of users has skyrocketed by 110%. Has the global AI landscape really changed?
Even more shocking data is here! From January 24th to 25th, the number of daily active users (DAU) worldwide and in the United States increased by more than 110% compared to the same period last week!
In other words, DeepSeek is not only seeing a surge in downloads, but its active user base is also growing explosively. This means that users are not just casually downloading it for fun, but actually using it! This is a key indicator of the real impact of AI applications!
What markets has DeepSeek conquered?
Many people think that DeepSeek mainly relies on the domestic market in mainland China to support its data, but this is not the case. Sensor Tower data shows that the Chinese market is indeed the largest source of downloads for DeepSeek, but it only accounts for 23% of total downloads. In other words, nearly 80% of downloads come from users outside of China. Meanwhile, the continued popularity of DeepSeek has attracted even more attention, and the official website has been visited by so many new users that it has crashed. The official announcement also stated that registration for users outside of China has been temporarily suspended. As a recent big hit of the AI model, it seems to have also suffered from attacks from unknown forces. The official DeepSeek website has been hit by a large number of cyber attacks, causing the DeepSeek website to crash and users to be unable to talk to the DeepSeek r1 big model.
What is even more surprising is that the second largest market for DeepSeek is actually the United States, with the US market accounting for 15% of downloads, while the third largest market is Egypt, accounting for 6%. Yes, DeepSeek is now not only popular in Asia, but also in the Americas and the Middle East.
Of course, DeepSeek is an open source model, and these data are from some ordinary users. For more professional users, they choose to directly download the open source DeepSeek R1 model and then deploy it locally for use. We are unable to estimate the number of these users for the time being.
