The excitement surrounding the AI company DeepSeek has led to further consequences: The company reports cyberattacks on its services. As a result, new registrations are currently not possible, and performance is suffering.
On the DeepSeek status page, the company provides information about the cyberattacks and the measures taken in response. DeepSeek states on its status website that there is currently “reduced performance.” The attacks reportedly began on Monday, January 27. Initially, neither login, API, nor web interface were usable. After initial investigations, the services were made available again, albeit with limited speed.
On Tuesday of this week, DeepSeek disabled new registrations, but existing accounts could be used again. In the evening, the company was apparently able to initiate and implement countermeasures. DeepSeek is currently monitoring their effectiveness. New registrations remain disabled for now, but this is only temporary, as DeepSeek explains.
The attacks follow the upheaval that DeepSeek has caused in the AI industry. Allegedly, the company has managed to train AI models with significantly lower costs and hardware, which can reportedly compete with those of the current industry leader, OpenAI. The company has even introduced an image generator.
In the meantime, the stock prices of AI companies have plummeted, with Nvidia alone having to endure losses of around 600 billion US dollars. The established AI companies are reacting somewhat panic-stricken to the newcomer from China.
DeepSeek is also targeting AI image generators. The company provides the source codes for its language models and the Janus image generator as open source under the MIT license. Interested parties can access the sources for DeepSeek-V3, DeepSeek-VL2, DeepSeek-R1, and Janus, among others, in DeepSeek’s GitHub repositories.
The emergence of DeepSeek has caused significant disruption in the AI field. Their approach of achieving high-performance AI models with fewer resources has caught the attention of many. The company’s transparency in sharing their source code openly is a bold move, allowing developers and researchers worldwide to explore and contribute to their projects.
DeepSeek’s challenges with cyberattacks highlight the vulnerabilities that come with rapid growth and innovation in the tech industry. As the company continues to address these security issues, it remains focused on its mission to democratize AI technology. The temporary halt on new registrations is a precautionary measure to ensure the stability and security of their platform for existing users.
The response from the established AI companies indicates the disruptive potential of DeepSeek’s technology. As they navigate these challenges, DeepSeek’s commitment to open-source principles and innovation remains strong. The coming months will likely reveal more about how the company adapts to the pressures of the competitive AI landscape and how they plan to sustain their growth and influence in the industry.
DeepSeek’s story is a testament to the dynamic nature of the technology sector, where new players can quickly rise to prominence and challenge the status quo. Their journey will be closely watched by industry experts and enthusiasts alike, eager to see how their innovations will shape the future of artificial intelligence.