OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday called Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s R1 an “impressive model” and pledged his company would “deliver much better models” in the future.

Why it matters: DeepSeek’s announcement that its new model that’s cheaper than U.S. competitors is on par with them sent some tech and energy stocks tumbling and alarmed the likes of Meta Monday — though President Trump called it a “positive development” and “a wakeup call for our industries.”

What he’s saying: Altman on X praised DeepSeek’s R1 model that’s particularly good at problem solving, performing on par with OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model, for what it was able to deliver at its price point

• But he said “the world is going to want to use a LOT” of AI and he believes that “more compute is more important now than ever before to succeed at our mission.”
• Altman said OpenAI “will obviously deliver much better models” and that the world is going to “really be quite amazed by the next gen models coming.”
• He added that he looks “forward to bringing you all AGI and beyond.”

The big picture: DeepSeek said it used only a fraction of the computer chips that leading Western AI companies, such as OpenAI, rely on to train their systems, showcasing a more efficient method of analyzing data using the chips.

• The company has open-sourced its model, allowing anyone to build and distribute products using the same technology.
• Many experts believe that generative AI will become a commodity, growing more efficient and increasingly accessible.

Between the lines: DeepSeek rose to the top of Apple’s App Store over the weekend and remained at the no.1 one spot late Monday despite users reporting concerns that it censors politically sensitive content on topics.

Zoom in: DeepSeek’s privacy policy makes it clear that the company “store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China.”

• The privacy policy also outlines that the company collects IP addresses, unique device identifiers and states that “we may collect your text or audio input, prompt, uploaded files, feedback, chat history, or other content that you provide to our model and services.”
• It’s owned by hedge fund High-Flyer, which has donated $53 million to charity last year as Beijing pushed firms to do more in the name of “common prosperity,” according to Bloomberg.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that “they’re now trying to get a leg up on us in AI as you’ve seen in the last day or so.”