A little over 10 days ago, virtually everyone (globally) has been speaking about ‘Deepseek’—from’ children in the academic institutions, experts and professionals in public and private organisations, leading multinational entrepreneurs, senior government officials, to even retired (yet savvy with tech apps) from the corporate world.
I decided to focus this week’s article on writing and demystifying the meaning (what it is), the application (how you can use it), the uniqueness (brief comparison with existing solutions), and finally the safety of using the same here in Oman (in my humble opinion as of date).
Like the popular and mostly used generative artificial intelligence app (ChatGPT), Deepseek is a new AI assistant app in the block that is making a lot of waves internationally. Though the company was established back in 2023 in Hangzhou (China), the app was officially launched in December 2024.
Unlike the other apps that were born in the US, this specific China-born app is faster, more accurate, and, to some extent, quite appealing (looks and feel) too. For reference, existing US-born popular Gen AI apps include OpenAI’s ChatGPT (that many are familiar with here in Oman), Google’s Gemini/Bard, and Microsoft’s Co-Pilot.
An investment of approximately $6 million was required to develop the efficient Deepseek App in contrast to over billions of dollars for the US-made Gen AI apps. Moreover, within a very short time (i.e., over a week), the app topped and became the most downloaded application from the respective app stores.
The low investment (in contrast) for a seemingly quality, responsive, and appealing app has caused the tech heavyweights of the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia to be shaken and see their financial stock market prices drop in value. Why pay a lot of money for something that can be done/developed cheaper and also promoted to attract higher usage (and customer base) in a short span of time? What more? Deepseek's code base is available for anyone to review and also improve for free (being an open source).
As opposed to Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, which are all proprietary (closed-source). The advantage, of course, of being an open-source application is that it allows developers to change and customize the way the application works to suit their own and customers' specific requirements—and in addition to adding more features and enhancements as well.
So how can you use it? The Deepseek app is available to be accessed via web, mobile, or tablet. Simply visit their website using your default web browser at www.deepseek.com, or download the app via the app store (App Store on Apple devices, Play Store on Google devices, or App Gallery on Huawei devices), be it on your smartphone and/or tablet
For those who used a Gen AI app before, the user interface and experience would look somewhat similar yet faster, neater, and feature-rich too. You may give it a try to experience it before your own eyes.
Should you use it? I don't see any reason not to, especially if you're already using other existing Gen AI apps. I will write some details about the security and the privacy concern that you should be aware of in my future upcoming articles, irrespective of whichever Gen AI app you're using.
To be honest, and in my humble opinion, whether the app is from China or the US, your data and personal details will still be at their respective mercy. I know there has been lots of social media posts and news about the privacy concern over Deepseek in the US, but I would also say the same is in China on utilizing US apps. The two countries continue to have a trade war among them.
My advice would be to use wisely by avoiding to share personal data as much as you can (though it would be a challenge). To conclude my article this week, I would say “Deepseek” is another interesting AI assistant tool, which works better and produces faster results too. With the release (lower investment, faster to market, etc.), I believe there will be more variety and specific solutions as a result in the near future, catered for different needs and verticals as well.
Until we catch up again next week, be brave and continue exploring. Life is beautiful.
The author is the founder of Knowledge Oman
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