By Kenrick Cai, Anna Tong, Jeffrey Dastin SAN FRANCISCO -Developers at leading U.S. AI firms are praising the DeepSeek AI models that have leapt into prominence while also trying to poke holes in the notion that their multi-billion dollar technology has been bested by a Chinese newcomer's low-cost alternative.

The sudden rise of Chinese AI app DeepSeek has leaders in Washington and Silicon Valley grappling with how to keep the U.S. ahead in the crucial technology.

OpenAI says DeepSeek, its sudden Chinese rival, may have "inappropriately” taken data from its model to spin up its own artificial intelligence chatbot. DeepSeek released a surprisingly effective and inexpensive Large Language Model,

DeepSeek built top-performing AI models using less-advanced chips and for what it says is a fraction of the cost of rivals such as OpenAI.

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI research lab, has released an advanced AI model which rivals leading models from OpenAI. The DeepSeek-R1 model can perform complicated mathematical reasoning, code generation, and more with fewer resources than its American competitors.