OpenAI founder admits China’s DeepSeek is ‘impressive’

The Chinese-developed DeepSeek AI is an “impressive model,” OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman has admitted, vowing that his own company will deliver better alternatives in the future.

The Hangzhou-based start-up released its AI Assistant app earlier this month, and by this week it had become the most downloaded free app on the US Apple App Store, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

DeepSeek’s rapid success was triggered by the app’s free availability and user-friendly design. Additionally, DeepSeek’s decision to make its models open-source allowed developers worldwide to access and improve the software, fostering rapid adoption and innovation.

The emergence led to a significant downturn in US tech stocks, with major companies such as Nvidia suffering substantial losses, and investors expressing concern over the potential disruption DeepSeek’s…