What Is DeepSeek?
Written by the AIVX Labs team · Published August 2026
DeepSeek is a family of large language models — most notably DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 — built by a Chinese AI research lab of the same name. It made global headlines for reaching reasoning performance competitive with top Western models like GPT and Claude, while reportedly costing a fraction as much to train and run. Just as significant: DeepSeek is open-weight, meaning developers can download and self-host the model, unlike closed systems such as ChatGPT or Claude.
Key takeaways
- DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab's family of large language models — DeepSeek-V3 (general purpose) and DeepSeek-R1 (reasoning-focused) are the best known.
- It gained attention for reaching reasoning benchmarks competitive with frontier Western models while reportedly costing far less to train and run.
- DeepSeek's models are open-weight, meaning the model files themselves are published and developers can download, run, and modify them on their own infrastructure.
- Open-weight is different from closed models like ChatGPT or Claude, which you can only access through the provider's own app, website, or API — you can't download and self-host them.
What DeepSeek is
DeepSeek is an AI research lab based in China, and also the name of its family of large language models. The two most discussed releases are DeepSeek-V3, a general-purpose model, and DeepSeek-R1, built specifically for step-by-step reasoning tasks like math and coding. Functionally, using DeepSeek looks like using any other chatbot: you type a prompt, it generates a response, and it can hold a conversation, write code, or work through multi-step problems.
Why it made headlines
DeepSeek drew global attention because it posted reasoning and coding benchmark scores competitive with leading Western models — while the lab reported training costs dramatically lower than what companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have spent on comparable frontier models. That combination — strong performance at a fraction of the presumed cost — briefly rattled assumptions about how much capital was required to compete at the frontier of AI development.
What “open-weight” actually means
Most well-known chatbots — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini — are closed: you can only use the model through the company's own app, website, or paid API. You never get access to the actual model file. DeepSeek's models are open-weight: the trained parameters are published publicly, so a developer or company with enough computing hardware can download the model and run it entirely on their own infrastructure — no ongoing API fees to the model maker, and full control over how and where it runs. This is different from “open-source,” which would also require releasing the training data and code; DeepSeek publishes the weights, not the full training pipeline.
Who it's for
DeepSeek appeals to two fairly different groups: developers and companies who want to self-host a capable model for cost, privacy, or customization reasons, and everyday users who just want a free, capable chatbot through DeepSeek's own hosted app. It's a particularly natural fit for technical teams building their own AI-powered products who want to avoid per-token API costs from closed providers at scale.
How to try it
DeepSeek offers a free consumer chat app and website for anyone who just wants to try it directly, and the open-weight models are available for developers to download and self-host. Whichever model or chatbot you use, the real leverage comes from knowing how to turn it into an actual workflow — prompts that reliably produce usable output for a specific business task. That's the gap AIVX Labs is built to close: teaching people how to use AI tools like DeepSeek as part of a real system, and offering its own purpose-built AI Tools — like the AI Content Studio — for people who'd rather get a finished business asset directly than build a prompting workflow from scratch.
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Every course and tool mentioned here is included free on AIVX Labs.
Create Your Account NowFrequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek the same thing as ChatGPT?
No. Both are chatbots built on large language models, but DeepSeek is a separate model family from a different company (a Chinese AI lab called DeepSeek), and unlike ChatGPT, its models are open-weight and can be self-hosted rather than accessed only through OpenAI's own product.
What does "open-weight" mean for DeepSeek?
It means DeepSeek has published the trained model's parameters ("weights") publicly, so any developer with sufficient hardware can download the model and run it on their own servers, rather than being limited to accessing it through DeepSeek's own app or API.
Why was DeepSeek's cost such a big deal?
DeepSeek reported training and running its models for a small fraction of what Western labs like OpenAI and Anthropic have spent on comparable systems, while still posting competitive results on reasoning benchmarks — which challenged the assumption that frontier AI performance required frontier-level budgets.
Is DeepSeek safe or reliable to use for business?
Like any AI model, output should be reviewed before use in professional contexts. Businesses evaluating DeepSeek should also weigh data-handling and hosting considerations specific to using a model from a Chinese lab, particularly if using DeepSeek's own hosted app or API versus a self-hosted, open-weight deployment.
Do I need to be a developer to use DeepSeek?
No — DeepSeek also offers a consumer-facing chat app and website that work like any other chatbot. Self-hosting the open-weight model is the option that requires technical infrastructure; using the hosted version doesn't.