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10 superintelligent memes on DeepSeek vs OpenAI (including Elon Musk’s favourite)

China's DeepSeek vs Silicon Valley: As competition shakes the AI industry, meme-makers are having a gala time watching from the sidelines.

Updated on: Jan 28, 2025, 12:42:20 IST
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A Chinese artificial intelligence company called DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley by launching its AI model R1, which outperforms some of OpenAI’s leading models on several parameters. At a supposed training cost of just $6 million, R1 achieved performance comparable to OpenAI’s o1 model, which involved billions of dollars in investment from OpenAI and Microsoft.

DeepSeek memes are flooding the internet with the release of R1. (X/@EffMktHype)
DeepSeek memes are flooding the internet with the release of R1. (X/@EffMktHype)

Over the weekend, DeepSeek’s AI app overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most-downloaded app on Apple's US App Store.

What truly rattled the industry was DeepSeek's claim that it developed its latest model, the R1, at a fraction of the cost that major companies are investing in AI development, primarily on expensive Nvidia chips and software.

The development is significant given the AI boom, ignited by ChatGPT's release in late 2022, has propelled Nvidia to become one of the world's most valuable companies.

As competition shakes the AI industry, meme-makers are having a gala time watching from the sidelines. We collected the 10 best memes that sum up the competition between China’s DeepSeek and the several AI companies in the US.

Here is a look at the 10 best memes on DeepSeek:

This take on ChatGPT vs DeepSeek R1 even amused Elon Musk

And this one took inspiration from the viral Turkish shooter at the Olympics last year

Many digs were aimed at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said in a post on X that it was “legit invigorating to have a new competitor.”

And China became one of the top keywords in the AI race

US President Donald Trump has said that the sudden rise of the Chinese app DeepSeek “should be a wake-up call” for American companies developing artificial intelligence as they need to be laser-focused on competing to win.

"Today and over the last couple of days, I've been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and a much less expensive method. That's good because you don't have to spend as much money. I view that as a positive as an asset," Trump told House Republicans on Monday at a Florida retreat, the first after he became the president.

(With inputs from agencies)

  • Sanya Jain
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Sanya Jain

    Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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