Did DeepSeek Steal from OpenAI?

OpenAI is trying to make DeepSeek look like a villain, they’re right, but it’s not that simple.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

The recent battle between OpenAI and DeepSeek has reignited conversations about intellectual property, open-source ethics, and AI development. OpenAI, the dominant force in the generative AI space, has accused DeepSeek, a rising Chinese AI lab, of stealing their proprietary work. But in the ever-evolving AI landscape, defining what constitutes theft is complicated. While OpenAI is justified in its claims, the reality is far from black and white.

This article unpacks the controversy, exploring whether DeepSeek truly stole from OpenAI, the nuances of AI research ethics, and the broader implications of this rivalry.

The Accusations: OpenAI vs. DeepSeek

OpenAI has raised concerns that DeepSeek’s models, particularly DeepSeek-V2, bear striking similarities to GPT-4. While OpenAI has not released the specifics of GPT-4’s architecture, they claim DeepSeek reverse-engineered key elements through methods that may have involved unauthorized access or re-implementation based on leaked insights.

DeepSeek, on the other hand, asserts that its models are independently developed, leveraging publicly available research and…