OpenAI claims to have found evidence that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek secretly used data produced by OpenAI’s technology to improve their own AI models, according to the Financial Times. If true, DeepSeek would be in violation of OpenAI’s terms of service. In a statement, the company said it is actively investigating.

This whole DeepSeek copying ChatGPT accusation from OpenAI and Microsoft reminds me of a lesson I’ve learned over the past 15 years of writing about this stuff — most people do not care if something is a copycat.

DeepSeek built top-performing AI models using less-advanced chips at what it says is a fraction of the cost of rivals such as OpenAI.

It’s impossible to look at the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek’s new AI model without comparing it against OpenAI, the dominant American rival.DeepSeek has touted its latest AI model,

OpenAI has accused Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek of using its proprietary models to train an open-source competitor.