There’s a new hero in the world of tech, and it’s not from the usual US tech giants. Meet DeepSeek, a young and exciting company from China that’s stepping up to challenge the big names like OpenAI and Anthropic with some really clever artificial intelligence AI tricks up its sleeve.Founded just a year ago, in 2023, DeepSeek is already making a huge splash. They’ve created something called the R1 model, a super smart AI that can think through problems step by step, just like a detective solving a mystery. Before this, they came out with the V3 model, which is like a brainy wizard that can write essays, solve maths problems, and even understand pictures and words together.What’s really amazing is how DeepSeek is doing all this cool stuff without spending tons of money. While other big companies spend over £100 million to make their AI, DeepSeek managed to build their V3 model for just about £5.58 million. They’re also using fewer fancy computer parts, which shows they’re not just smart but also resourceful.DeepSeek's latest creation, the R1 model, takes the smartness of V3 and boosts it with something called reinforcement learning, making it even better at figuring out tricky problems. It’s kind of like when you learn from your mistakes and get better at video games or sports.The exciting part is that DeepSeek is sharing its discoveries with everyone by letting people download and use their AI models for free. This is great news for anyone who loves experimenting with tech because it means more fun tools to play with without needing a supercomputer.Top of the chartsThe DeepSeek-V3 powered AI Assistant has soared to the top of the Apple App Store in the U.S., overtaking popular apps like ChatGPT. This shows that not only is DeepSeek's technology advanced, but it’s also what people want to use, proving its practical appeal and user-friendly design.Cost efficiencyThe R1 model from DeepSeek is an absolute game-changer in terms of cost. It's reported to be 20 to 50 times cheaper to operate than the comparable OpenAI models, depending on the task. This makes advanced AI more accessible to a broader audience, potentially leading to wider use and integration across different industries and applications..Why DeepSeek logo is a whaleWhy a whale, you ask? Because just like the giant creatures of the deep sea, DeepSeek dives into the vast ocean of data to explore and bring up hidden treasures of information. Their whale logo isn’t just cool-looking; it shows that they’re big players in the world of AI, ready to go deep and make big waves. So next time you think of advanced tech, imagine a whale swimming through data— that’s DeepSeek for you!