Kathmandu. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company and a major competitor to ChatGPT, has temporarily suspended new user registrations due to a cyber attack. The company explained that this move was a result of service system issues caused by the sudden surge in popularity of its AI assistant.
After the cyber attack, DeepSeek topped the list of the most downloaded free apps on the Apple App Store in the United States on Monday. As a result, users have faced difficulties logging into the application programming interface (API) and website. According to the company, the login issue on Monday was the longest in the past 90 days.
Although efforts are underway to resolve the issue, new registrations can currently only be made using an email account or a Chinese mobile number.
DeepSeek’s AI assistant, DeepSeek-V3, was recently launched, claiming to offer high performance with low data usage and cost. It is said to be more efficient and affordable compared to other major AI models, and is expected to set new standards in the AI field.
The popularity of this AI model has had a significant impact on Silicon Valley, increasing competition between the U.S. AI industry and China’s chip development capabilities. DeepSeek’s rise has led to a drop in the share prices of Nvidia and Oracle, as such AI models require advanced chips for training, and the export of these chips to China has been restricted by the U.S. since 2021.
DeepSeek, founded in 2023 in Hangzhou, is a small startup that is opening new possibilities in the global AI technology landscape by demonstrating high capability at a low cost. This has intensified the technological competition between China and the U.S. even further.