The monopoly structure of AI technology is being shaken to its core as Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek releases its open-source inference model, 'R1'. Silicon Valley companies, including OpenAI, which once advocated open source but soon switched to a closed model, are at a turning point and are seeking a path to change.
According to major foreign media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 3rd, OpenAI, seemingly conscious of DeepSearch, surprisingly released the deep inference model 'DeepResearch' less than two days after distributing 'o3-mini' for free to ChatGPT. The company emphasized that DeepResearch showed nearly three times the accuracy of DeepSearch R1.
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Jaesik Choi, a professor at KAIST's Kim Jae-chul AI Graduate School, said, "The choice between open source and closed models will ultimately be decided by the end user," and pointed out that, "If a specific company monopolizes the market, even if it is open source, that company will monopolize the service and end up charging for it." He added, "China's open source strategy appears to be aimed at monopolizing the market. In other words, if DeepSeek also secures a monopoly, the situation could be reversed."
