OpenAI's Sam Altman Impressed With DeepSeek And Promises New Releases Soon

Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, commented on the emergence of a new competitor in the AI landscape, DeepSeek, which launched its open-source AI model, DeepSeek-R1, last week. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Altman expressed admiration for the new model’s capabilities while making it clear that OpenAI intends to push the boundaries further.

"DeepSeek's R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price," Altman wrote. However, he added, "we will obviously deliver much better models and also it's legit invigorating to have a new competitor! we will pull up some releases."

Altman’s remarks came in response to the growing excitement around DeepSeek-R1, which has been described as a strong competitor to OpenAI’s models, as well as those from Meta Platforms Inc. DeepSeek-R1 stands out for its ability to run on less-advanced chips, avoiding the high costs typically associated with cutting-edge AI infrastructure. This efficiency has contributed to its rise, making AI technology accessible to a broader range of users and companies.

Despite the competitive challenge posed by DeepSeek, Altman remains focused on OpenAI’s future, stating, "we are excited to continue to execute on our research roadmap and believe more compute is more important now than ever before to succeed at our mission." He emphasised on the growing demand for AI, asserting that "the world is going to want to use a LOT of AI, and really be quite amazed by the next-gen models coming."

Looking to the future, Altman teased OpenAI's long-term ambitions, adding, "look forward to bringing you all AGI and beyond."

The launch of DeepSeek-R1 bypasses U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports to China. The model's efficiency, achieved through multi-stage training and large-scale reinforcement learning, has allowed it to compete with the best while utilising fewer resources. As a result, it has quickly gained traction, even reaching the top of Apple’s App Store rankings.