These aren't mutually exclusive.
It's been known for a while that competitors used OpenAI to improve their models, that's why they changed the TOS to forbid it.
That doesn't mean the deep seek technical achievements are less valid.
It's been known for a while that competitors used OpenAI to improve their models, that's why they changed the TOS to forbid it.
That doesn't mean the deep seek technical achievements are less valid.
Well, that's literally exactly what it would mean. If DeepSeek relied on OpenAI’s API, their main achievement is in efficiency and cost reduction as opposed to fundamental AI breakthroughs.
In a way this is something most companies have been doing with their smaller models, DeepSeek just supposedly* did it better.