Mint Explainer: How DeepSeek’s not-so-hungry AI model can revolutionise India’s AI future
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The artificial intelligence (AI) treadmill is moving at a very rapid pace, disrupting even established tech companies in its wake. The latest example is that of DeepSeek AI, a Chinese AI startup that has rattled US tech stocks and global stock markets, even tanking the value of AI posterboy Nvidia Corp.
by $593 billion on Tuesday. DeepSeek has released a low-cost, open-source AI model that costs a fraction of OpenAI’s o1 and other large language models that are used to train AI, suggesting that AI models in countries like India do not need exorbitant high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) or gigantic data centres to be effective. Mint explains: The DeepSeek-V3 model, launched on 10 January, used Nvidia’s lower-capability H800 chips for training, spending less than $6 million, its researchers said in a paper.
In contrast, OpenAI set to spend about $7 billion last year to train and operate ChatGPT, according to The Information, with an additional $3 billion for training the models with new data. Overall, DeepSeek, which was founded less than 2 years ago, was developed for less than $10 million. Also, DeepSeek’s R1 model demonstrates that advanced AI can be developed without massive financial investment, provided the focus is on optimizing training methods.
The R1 model uses reinforcement learning without supervised fine tuning, which enables an AI model to learn by being shown examples of tasks with correct answers. Models using reinforcement learning improve through trial and error. Since DeepSeek focuses directly on this to refine its AI’s reasoning abilities, it avoids dependence on pre-labeled datasets, significantly reducing costs, and making cutting-edge AI accessible to smaller
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