Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, was in for a rude awakening one January Morning when a new AI chatbot, DeepSeek, was released. This new market disruptor had a massive impact on the market. Nvidia, the world’s biggest AI company, lost more than $500 billion in market value.
Furthermore, Sam might have thought his ChatGPT would now be the undisputed leader of AI chatbots. But DeepSeek came out of nowhere and posed a serious challenge to ChatGPT.
However, the real question is whether DeepSeek will dethrone ChatGPT from the top spot. This question doesn’t have a definitive answer, and there are many nuances involved.
So, in this expert guide from CodingCops, we will discuss these nuances to find out which of these AI LLMs stand out.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek is the latest in the line of many AI chatbots that have made quite a big splash in the market. This AI LLM has been developed by a Chinese company. Moreover, this company has been open-source LLMs for many years.
It uses the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) approach. Hence, the processing speed of this model is quite fast, while being a lot more cost-effective as compared to other LLMs.
Additionally, the DeepSeek-R1 model can easily handle logical, coding, and mathematical problems. Also, it uses a lot less computing power than ChatGPT, even when both are executing the same tasks.
Pros and Cons of DeepSeek
Pros
- Accuracy
One of the biggest pros of DeepSeek is that it can do different types of tasks that involve logical reasoning. Moreover, some common examples include solving coding problems. Also, this LLM can easily solve problems and provide accurate answers to different queries.
- It is Open Source
Another edge that DeepSeek has over other AI chatbots is that it’s open source. Moreover, this means that the developers can easily change and modify the code according to their needs. Additionally, developers can run this model on their own devices. Hence, it’s the ideal LLM model for those who need to control things.
- Execution
DeepSeek is one of the cutting-edge LLM models available. Moreover, you can understand its potential by the mere fact that 37 billion parameters are used out of the 671 billion parameters available. Hence, the model becomes extremely responsive mainly in technical tasks.
- Cost-Efficiency
Reportedly, DeepSeek was developed for $5.6 million. It’s just a fraction of the cost it took to develop ChatGPT. OpenAI has dedicated billions of dollars to developing and maintaining ChatGPT.
Cons
- API isn’t great
DeepSeek’s API isn’t up to the mark yet. It’s quite basic and doesn’t stand a chance compared to ChatGPT’s API. Furthermore, it doesn’t have proper documentation for coders along with the necessary support.
- Content is Controlled
DeepSeek has been developed in a highly regulated country like China. Hence, that’s why, its answer related to geopolitics and other relevant topics can be biased towards China. Moreover, DeepSeek might not provide some data that you can get from other AI chatbots.
- Lacking in Conversation
Although DeepSeek is excellent at carrying out many technical tasks, it’s not as interactive as that of ChatGPT. It doesn’t have any voice integration. Moreover, its chat history is also limited.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is an AI LLM built by OpenAI. Its biggest advantage is that its responses are more human-like. Moreover, ChatGPT’s responses are creative compared to the responses generated by other AI LLMs.
Furthermore, ChatGPT provides contextual answers to users’ queries. This is what differentiates it from other AI LLMs.
Pros and Cons of ChatGPT
Pros
- Developer Support
Developers enjoy a lot of support when using OpenAI for their development efforts. OpenAI provides comprehensive documentation and tutorials so developers can learn and use it for maximum results. Although there isn’t a dedicated community available, you can tap into it with the help of forums.
- Different Paid Plans
You can enjoy ChatGPT’s advanced features by purchasing their paid plans. They have a variety of plans available which you can purchase depending on your requirements as a single user or as a company.
- User-friendly Interface
Another advantage that ChatGPT has over AI chatbots is that it doesn’t have a clunky interface. On the other hand, ChatGPT provides features like voice mode, image generation, and chat history. Additionally, OpenAI has made available ChatGPT’s API to help those who feel it’s challenging to use AI LLMs.
- A Huge Dataset
The most significant advantage that ChatGPT has it’s that it has been trained on a huge dataset. This dataset covers almost all aspects of the different subjects available at our disposal. Hence, that’s the reason why ChatGPT can write on any subject. So, whether you need to solve a complex programming problem, need help with your thesis, or just want a new dinner recipe to try, ChatGPT can provide you with all that and more.
Cons
- Not Open Source
In contrast to DeepSeek, ChatGPT isn’t open source. Hence, developers cannot tweak or run this model on their own devices.
- Little Focus on Technical Aspects
Although ChatGPT provides the right explanation of technical concepts, its responses, however, are too long for a lot of easier technical tasks. Therefore, it isn’t as impactful as DeepSeek’s simplistic and minimalist answers.
- Not Cost-Effective
It requires a lot of computational power to train and maintain ChatGPT. Hence, the costs of the company keep mounting up. Additionally, some users find their plans overpriced which forces them to look for alternatives.
Comparison Between DeepSeek and ChatGPT
| Parameter | ChatGPT | DeepSeek |
| Output | Creative and conversational | Minimal but organized |
| API & Personalization | It can be programmed with a documented API. | You can create a customized API with the help of this open-source model. |
| Open Source | It can chat in a human-like way. | It’s sound in queries related to mathematics and programming. |
| Training Cost | The costs go into billions of dollars. Moreover, the major share of these costs goes into buying NVIDIA GPUs. | It cost around $5.6 million. It is because of purchasing NVIDIA H800 GPUs |
| Architecture | ChatGPT’s architecture is a complex transformer model. | Its architecture includes a Mixture of Experts along with restrictive activation. |
DeepSeek or ChatGPT: Which One Should You Choose?
When choosing between DeepSeek and ChatGPT, you have to choose based on your requirements.
- Users Wanting Data Privacy
If you are working in industries that are extensively regulated or work with data that is sensitive, you can use ChatGPT. This is because ChatGPT adheres to Western data protection standards, hence, which makes it safer.
Both these AI LLMs have privacy features. However, ChatGPT is a lot more transparent when it comes to handling privacy regulations. Furthermore, ChatGPT complies with privacy regulations on a global level.
So, it’s better to use ChatGPT in corporate offices where protecting the company’s data holds importance.
- Content Creators
If you are a content creator who needs a lot of visual content for your social media and YouTube channels, then you can greatly benefit from ChatGPT.
ChatGPT creates images with DALL-E which content creators can use to quickly create images for their content.
- Technical Users
You can use DeepSeek for data analysis and other technical tasks. Moreover, as DeepSeek is open-source, it allows for greater personalization and integration into your development work.
Furthermore, DeepSeek is extremely cost-effective. Hence, solopreneurs and small development teams can make use of it.
Final Words
So, where do these chatbots stand? Well, you can choose DeepSeek if you want to double down on technical development. However, if you want a tool that can handle communication tasks with an emphasis on privacy, you should consider using ChatGPT.
