ChatGPT’s monopoly as the leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) model faces a formidable challenger in DeepSeek, a rising powerhouse poised to redefine intelligence systems.
Since the launch of ChatGPT’s OpenAI model in late 2022, it’s been the dominant AI tool for many. The current surge of DeepSeek, however—which claims superior mathematical reasoning and structured responses—is challenging ChatGPT’s dominance.
In early 2025, the AI world was rocked by the surprising development of DeepSeek—a Chinese AI company—becoming a major player in the global AI race. Within weeks of its international launch, the DeepSeek app shot to the top of charts, with United States President Donald Trump describing it as a “wake-up call” for US companies.
DeepSeek’s competitive advantage stems from its claims to have achieved performance comparable to leading models like ChatGPT, but at a fraction of the cost.
“While ChatGPT is popular for AI assistant for writing, summarizing information, and assistance with coding, DeepSeek’s focus on mathematical reasoning and technical accuracy makes it a strong competitor,” Bella Lin, Comm ’28, said in an interview with The Journal.
The DeepSeek-R1 model—the first instalment of the third series—is specifically designed to use complex reasoning, making it more suitable for tasks that require deep logical thinking, like mathematics and coding. ChatGPT-4o—OpenAI’s newest and most advanced model—is a versatile multimodal model that offers interaction across text, audio, and vision, making it more suitable for writing and creative tasks.
In an interview with The Journal, Ali Etemad, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering shed light on the rivalry between models.
“It’s hard to tell if one is perfectly better than the other ones [AI models], each of them are good at certain things,” Etemad said.
According to Etemad, the constant evolution and changes in AI tools make it difficult to have a definitive winner between AI models.
“When this race started, [ChatGPT] was the best one, then [Google] Gemini came and that started to get close to ChatGPT and sur it some aspects, and then [Meta] Llama came and then DeepSeek and all the other ones,” he added.
The rapid evolution of AI indicates no AI tool will continuously dominate. AI development may be moving towards more specialized markets and agents that can take action, opening new avenues for AI to be integrated into our daily lives.
Etemad doesn’t foresee the rapid development slowing down anytime soon, in fact he anticipates the opposite.
“In the next few years, we’ll have all of these [AI models] converge to the same power, and there won’t be a dominant one,” Etemad shared.
Regardless, with the widespread adoption of AI in education, students now have instant access to answers, potentially improving efficiency in learning.
“Students are doing better in classes because they can get answers instantly […] before, they’d have had to book an appointment with their instructor or Teaching Assistant. Now, it’s two sentences away,” Etemad said.
While AI tools are heightening learning, some students believe they’re still far from perfect.
“ChatGPT and DeepSeek are definitely useful tools, but they’re still limiting […] sometimes, the answers lack nuance, and I still have to fact-check everything,” Lin said.
Lin’s observations on her own AI usage suggest these tools serve best as supplementary tools rather than standalone solutions for coursework.
Etemad, a researcher of human-centered machine and deep learning, wonders where the line between beneficial AI use and overreliance is defined.
“We definitely want students to be able to use AI, because technology is there to help,” Etemad added.
“I think overall, it’s going to have a massive positive impact.”
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