Praised for its ability to match Western competitors at a fraction of the cost, it has surged to the top of app download charts, displacing market leader ChatGPT.

“I would be very careful about that. These type of issues need to be weighed up carefully.”

Australia’s newly announced chief scientist Tony Haymet had a less cautious tone than Husic, saying DeepSeek’s infiltration showed “how disruptive technology can be and how quickly things can happen”.

DeepSeek has overtaken US competitor ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application on the Apple app store. Source: AAP / Andy Wong

“I view AI as a great opportunity. I think it’s a great export opportunity for Australia, because AI needs electricity, and most of the world is demanding that we deliver AI with renewable electricity, and Australia is perfectly set up for that,” Haymet told reporters at a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday.

“I don’t have a concern that we’re going to be over-regulated. I think we’re going to get it right.”

What is Deepseek?

The startup claims its models are on pair with US competitors like ChatGPT makers OpenAI and Meta’s most advanced models, but are more efficient in their use of the Nvidia processor chips that are used to build and run AI systems.

Some have expressed scepticism about DeepSeek’s resources. On Monday, analysts from Bernstein Research highlighted in a research note that DeepSeek’s total training costs for its V3 model were unknown but were much higher than what the startup claimed was used for computing power.