DeepSeek unveils update to AI model R1 as competition heats up

China’s DeepSeek (DEEPSEEK) has upgraded its AI model R1, that boosted the startup into the limelight earlier this year as the AI race heats up in the Chinese market and globally.

DeepSeek completed what it described as a “minor trial upgrade” and informed users that they can begin testing it, as per a representative’s post in an official WeChat group, Bloomberg News reported.

Earlier this year, DeepSeek rattled the U.S. tech sector after it unveiled its AI model R1 and detailed in a paper how large language models, or LLMs, could be built on tight budgets and improved without human supervision.

Even Apple’s (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, who was on a visit to China in March, had praised DeepSeek.

Last month, DeepSeek, reportedly, open-sourced Prover-V2 model, a new specialist AI model. The company’s announcement came on the heels of Alibaba (BABA) unveiling Qwen 3, an enhanced AI model featuring hybrid reasoning capabilities.

In March, Chinese internet search giant Baidu (BIDU) launched its foundation model Ernie 4.5 and the deep-thinking reasoning model Ernie X1. Baidu had said then that X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price.