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Were Western tech companies behind “malicious attacks” on DeepSeek?
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot, has crushed its rival ChatGPT by becoming the highest-rated free app in the Apple App Store in the United States after the launch on January 20 of its new R1 version, which offers performance comparable to that of the latest version of products from OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
The stocks of ChatGPT sponsor Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Google parent Alphabet registered falls of 3.8%, 0.8%, and 3.4%, respectively. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei stock exchange fell 1%, while Japanese AI startup investor SoftBank Group plummeted more than 8%.
Meanwhile, Chinese AI-related stocks have surged. Shares of tech companies linked to DeepSeek rose, with Iflytek Co. up 1.73% and Merit Interactive Co. breaking their daily limits, up more than 20%.
Although US AI technology corporations’ shares have recovered somewhat after the initial crash, they are estimated to have fallen by around $1 trillion. The Chinese product has hit investors’ pockets and caused a rift in US plans to maintain its leadership in AI.
The launch of DeepSeek was not random and was not a purely commercial or business push, although the Chinese company said it was not for profit and was open source. In that sense, everyone can download and modify the program according to their needs, representing a substantial change from what the American and Western models proposed.
Nonetheless, the launch was a perfectly calculated moment by the Chinese political leadership. While US President Donald Trump talked about how his country was going to take the lead in artificial intelligence, which was going to revolutionize the world, and proposed an investment in technology of $500 billion, an astronomical figure, it turns out that a Chinese company with very low costs and without having to use the latest generation chips revolutionized the market and placed itself ahead of the major American technology companies.
Coincidentally, after shaking up the global market, DeepSeek reported that it had temporarily limited registrations “due to large-scale malicious attacks” against its services. However, it asserted that users could “log in as usual.”
The Chinese startup suffered several website outages after its AI assistant outperformed ChatGPT. The company has managed to resolve issues related to its application programming interface and users’ inability to log in.
Against the backdrop of geopolitical confrontation with Beijing, many countries that perceive China as a threat are likely to take a confrontational line toward DeepSeek.
Despite the current lack of evidence, it is hard to believe that the malicious attacks are coincidental. Obviously, American and Western technology companies are angered by DeepSeek’s success and could have launched a massive attack against the Chinese company, which the Chinese would have also anticipated.
British media have already reported on the alleged dangers of using the model in terms of personal data protection, and the Australian government has called for caution in using DeepSeek. In Washington, where the product is already perceived as a blow to the US economy, they say they are studying the impact of the model’s explosive growth in popularity on national security issues.
At the same time, OpenAI also alleges that DeepSeek may have “inappropriately” used data from its model to create its artificial intelligence chatbot.
“We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more,” an OpenAI spokesperson said, adding that the company was not accusing DeepSeek of a security breach.
Distillation is the tactic of training an artificial intelligence chatbot using data generated by another artificial intelligence chatbot.
“We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the US government to protect the most capable models being built here,” the spokesperson added.
On January 28, Trump’s AI adviser, David Sacks, claimed on Fox News that DeepSeek was distilled from OpenAI but made no indication that the White House would take action.
“I think one of the things you’re going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation,” he said. “That would definitely slow down some of these copycat models.”
Ironically, OpenAI makes accusations against DeepSeek despite itself having been accused of building ChatGPT by inappropriately accessing content it did not have the rights to, which has led to multiple lawsuits, including from The New York Times, which claims the California-based company built its model in part by using millions of their stories without permission.
Malicious attacks and contradictory allegations were to be expected after the successful launch of DeepSeek, but what remains to be seen now is how Trump will respond to China’s success in overcoming the dominant ChatGPT, perhaps the most important battle he will have in the AI sector over his term.
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the corporation / empire controlling the algorhythm / information we see has been sputniked. open source software from china = products for purpose. us = products for profit…. china will win this.
you’re so gullible. course you’re just another anti american troll. transparent as a plastic bag. you should just sign off as globalist tool imo
who uses anything with ai?
more rubbish entrapments by them all in it together marketing intention to entrap by signing terms and conditions. people are treated like children because they’re as malleable mentally as children. imo