There is growing concern that the artificial intelligence platform DeepSeek may have stolen from US technology companies, after media reports said Microsoft and OpenAI were investigating the possibility that the China-based company had illegally obtained data for use on its AI platform.
David Sacks, the White House's AI and crypto tsar, suggested during a Tuesday interview with Fox News that DeepSeek could have stolen intellectual property.
“It's possible – there's a technique in AI called distillation when one model learns from another model,” Mr Sacks said.
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“AI can do this by asking millions of questions and they can essentially mimic the reasoning process from the parent model and suck the model from the parent model … there's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI's models and I don't think they're very happy about it.”
In a statement to The National, an OpenAI spokesperson touched briefly about concerns surrounding DeepSeek.
“We know that groups in the PRC are actively working to use methods, including what’s known as distillation, to try to replicate advanced US AI models," the spokesperson said.
"We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more. We take aggressive, proactive countermeasures to protect our technology and will continue working closely with the U.S. government to protect the most capable models being built here.”
OpenAI also explained to The National that while there are concerns regarding DeepSeek's methods, the "inappropriate distillation" does not expose AI model weights and that the technique is not considered to be a security breach of user data.
The accusations of theft from OpenAI are likely raise eyebrows in various circles, especially since the well-funded technology company has itself been accused of illegally scraping for content to train its large language models. At least eight news organisations have sued OpenAI since the launch of its ChatGPT product in 2022. OpenAI has denied the allegations.
The DeepSeek accusations are the latest example of how intense the geopolitical AI race has become amid an increasingly strained relationship between the US and China.
Late on Monday, as DeepSeek was rising to the top of mobile app store download charts, US President Donald Trump said that the China-made app's popularity should be a “wake-up call” for US industries, and suggested that the American technology sector should be “laser-focused on competing to win”.
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Also on Monday, in a post on X which was largely seen as a response to the attention received by DeepSeek, Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella spoke of the potential for AI to become increasingly efficient.
“Jevons paradox strikes again,” he wrote, referring to the economic concept of technological advancement.
“As AI gets more efficient and accessible, we will see its use skyrocket, turning it into a commodity we just can't get enough of.”
Few products in the AI space have made such a significant impact in a short period of time as DeepSeek.
Released on January 20, the AI platform claims to do more at a lower cost.
It is also believed to use significantly less powerful graphics processing unites – and therefore consume less energy – potentially leaving companies like GPU designer Nvidia vulnerable, along with energy providers who have anticipated a major boom from AI energy demand.
Downloads of DeepSeek, which according to AppBrain have surpassed two million in seven days, prompted concern on Wall Street that the AI economy model could be vulnerable as a result of DeepSeek's efficiency.
Many stocks tanked as investors became skittish.
But despite its popularity, there is still debate surrounding the claims made by DeepSeek.
Some have suggested that the potential breakthroughs of the AI platform may be superficially promoted as a response to US export policies that have limited the exports of GPUs necessary to build out AI infrastructures.
“The controls we put on semiconductors and semiconductor equipment have all been about impeding the PRC’s [People's Republic of China] ability to build the large language models that can threaten the US and its allies from a national security perspective,” said Alan Estevez, former undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, during an event at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies just prior president Joe Biden's departure from the White House.
DeepSeek has not responded to The National's requests to comment on this story.