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A scorching potato: Microsoft is elevating eyebrows after asserting that it’s going to host DeepSeek R1 on its Azure cloud service. The choice comes simply days after OpenAI accused DeepSeek of violating its phrases of service by allegedly utilizing ChatGPT outputs to coach its system, allegations Microsoft is at present investigating.
DeepSeek R1 started making waves within the AI world when it launched final week. Chinese language developer DeepSeek touted it as a freely accessible simulated reasoning mannequin that rivals OpenAI’s o1 in efficiency however at a fraction of the coaching price. Whereas OpenAI has priced its o1 mannequin at $60 per million output tokens, DeepSeek lists R1 at simply $2.19 per million – a exceptional distinction that sunk stock for AI-adjacent firms like Nvidia.
Microsoft’s choice to host R1 on Azure is just not too uncommon on its floor. The tech big already offers over 1,800 AI fashions via its Azure AI Foundry, giving builders entry to a wide range of AI techniques for experimentation and integration. Microsoft does not discriminate because it earnings from any AI platform working on its cloud infrastructure. Nevertheless, the choice appears ironic since OpenAI has spent the final week aggressively criticizing the mannequin for distilling ChatGPT outputs.
🚀 DeepSeek-R1 is right here!
⚡ Efficiency on par with OpenAI-o1
📖 Absolutely open-source mannequin & technical report
🏆 MIT licensed: Distill & commercialize freely!🌐 Web site & API are stay now! Strive DeepThink at https://t.co/v1TFy7LHNy as we speak!
🐋 1/n pic.twitter.com/7BlpWAPu6y
– DeepSeek (@deepseek_ai) January 20, 2025
OpenAI claims the AI startup violated its phrases of service through the use of “distillation,” as reported by Fox Information. Distillation is when builders practice an AI mannequin utilizing outputs from a extra superior system. Suspicions arose after customers discovered that an earlier mannequin, DeepSeek V3, generally referred to itself as “ChatGPT,” suggesting that DeepSeek used OpenAI-generated knowledge to fine-tune its system.
The transfer additionally appears considerably hypocritical, contemplating Microsoft safety researchers reportedly launched an ethics probe into DeepSeek, on Wednesday. Nameless sources declare that the investigation focuses on whether or not DeepSeek extracted substantial quantities of information via OpenAI’s API throughout the fall of 2024.
Regardless of the frustrations with DeepSeek, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly welcomed the competitors. In a tweet on Monday, Altman acknowledged R1’s price effectivity, calling it “a formidable mannequin” however vowing that OpenAI would quickly ship “a lot better outcomes.” Analysts count on the corporate might launch a brand new mannequin, o3-mini, as early as as we speak.
deepseek’s r1 is a formidable mannequin, notably round what they’re capable of ship for the worth.
we are going to clearly ship a lot better fashions and likewise it is legit invigorating to have a brand new competitor! we are going to pull up some releases.
– Sam Altman (@sama) January 28, 2025
OpenAI’s outcry over DeepSeek’s knowledge practices is notable given its personal historical past of alleged knowledge abuse. The New York Occasions has filed a lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of utilizing copyrighted journalism with out permission. OpenAI has additionally struck deals with publishers and on-line communities – equivalent to The related Press and others – to entry user-generated knowledge for coaching.
The entire scenario exposes the AI business’s hypocritical relationship with knowledge possession. Funding agency Andreessen Horowitz, one other Open AI investor, argued in a 2023 authorized submitting that coaching AI fashions shouldn’t be thought-about copyright infringement, as they merely “extract data” from present works. If OpenAI really believes in that precept, then DeepSeek is simply taking part in by the identical guidelines.
The present panorama of the AI business is kind of a free-for-all. We have now no legal guidelines on the books to manipulate AI straight, and people legal guidelines that have an effect on it not directly, like copyright and commerce legal guidelines, are twisted into a good interpretation by the AI companies which can be breaking them.
