The DeepSeek chatbot, known as R1, responds to user queries just like its U.S.-based counterparts. Early testing released by DeepSeek suggests that its quality rivals that of other AI products, while the company says it costs less and uses far fewer specialized chips than do its competitors.

The buzz around Chinese AI startup DeepSeek began picking up steam earlier this month, when the startup released R1, its model that rivals OpenAI's o1.