For most of 2024, OpenAI's ChatGPT seemed to have taken over the artificial intelligence world.
Between its market dominance and the company's sizable investments into AI infrastructure, it seemed like no one could catch up with ChatGPT.
Then, in January, DeepSeek stole the show. Seemingly overnight, the Chinese AI startup developed an open-source large language model competitive with ChatGPT at a fraction of the cost. Since then, leading innovators have begun to rethink the idea that more graphic processing units, or GPUs, automatically means a better AI product.
To learn whether DeepSeek is a true competitor for ChatGPT, I tested both AI platforms to compare side by side. As a key pillar of Southwest Ohio's innovation ecosystem, the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub serves as a center of AI research and innovation for the region. We compare a variety of platforms and tools such as top AI tools for business.
Both ChatGPT and DeepSeek are large language models (LLMs), so they're AI tools meant to interpret and generate human language. Users can write prompts on either platform and receive responses based on information that's been crawled from across the internet.
While ChatGPT and DeepSeek have similar goals and capabilities, they've had contrasting rises to prominence. Below is a breakdown of a few differences I found between the AI tools:
DeepSeek's ability to craft impressive responses shocked global innovators - especially since it required significantly less money and processing power than ChatGPT. Its rise also called into question the United States' supposed leadership in the AI race and made experts reconsider the formerly accepted belief that the most powerful AI model would automatically be the best.
While OpenAI's LLM uses a transformer-based architecture to generate responses, DeepSeek uses a mixture of experts (MOE) model. Basically, ChatGPT crawls its full database for each query while DeepSeek only pulls from a narrow subset of data related to the specific search. This leads the latter to achieve comparable results for cheaper and with far less processing power than ChatGPT.
While ChatGPT and DeepSeek both boast impressive models, I could only choose one as the AI frontrunner. To determine my top choice as of March 2025, I gave a variety of specific prompts to each platform and compared each one's answers for accuracy and helpfulness.
I requested brevity in responses to allow for the inclusion of screenshots in this article. Here are the results of my firsthand comparison between ChatGPT and DeepSeek:
My AI test came down to the wire, but ChatGPT, in my opinion, narrowly claimed victory over its upstart rival. With that said, both AI platforms are powerful tools for boosting efficiency and innovation when used responsibly. Throughout my experience, ChatGPT and DeepSeek crafted similar responses to most prompts, revealing how programmatic responses are fast but often lack creativity and the "human touch."
ChatGPT and DeepSeek each have additional benefits and drawbacks to consider:
- DeepSeek is an open-source AI model, meaning it can be deployed locally on anyone's software. Though ChatGPT began as open source (hence the name "OpenAI"), it now uses a closed-source model.
- While DeepSeek is entirely free, ChatGPT offers a limited version that's free along with a premium plan for $20 a month. The no-cost version will suffice for casual users, but they could run into limits on their daily number of queries and when uploading files.
- OpenAI has powerful tools for image generation (DALL-E 3) and video generation (Sora), while DeepSeek doesn't offer either capability.
- DeepSeek's servers are based in the People's Republic of China and are subject to government censorship. Searchers who ask about controversial topics related to China or look for negative details about its government will not receive accurate information. DeepSeek censors itself - sometimes deleting correct responses in the process - by responding, "Sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let's talk about something else."
Whether you choose ChatGPT, DeepSeek or another AI option, there's much to be gained by giving these tools a chance. Startup founders and corporate leaders throughout the Cincinnati Innovation District and beyond are turning to top AI tools to boost business efficiency.
Just remember that AI tools are powerful supplements - not replacements - for human ingenuity. The key to innovating faster in 2025 comes from unlocking AI tools' potential while recognizing the unique challenges and limitations the emerging technology still faces.
Featured image at top: Generative AI offers a suite of tools. Photo/Unsplash
