DeepSeek releases ‘revolutionary’ AI image generator amid tech industry panic

Launch of free and open-source Janus model comes after Chinese startup’s chatbot caused US tech stocks to collapse

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has launched a “revolutionary” new image generator that it claims can outperform the best models built by US-based rivals at a fraction of the price.

The launch of DeepSeek’s Janus-Pro comes just days after its R1 chatbot tool caused the stock of American tech giants to collapse amid fears that its low-cost and open-source models would upend their dominance.

DeepSeek’s Janus-Pro is free-to-use without restriction, unlike image generators built by US rivals like OpenAI and Stability AI. It also marks a breakthrough in the way such models are trained and developed, with one of its generative AI models costing less than $6 million to build – compared to the billions it cost for the likes of ChatGPT.

“It is freaking amazing... This model generates images and beats OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion across multiple benchmarks,” said internet entrepreneur Brian Roemmele.

“It can not be stressed enough just how massive the new DeepSeek Janus-Pro 7B model is to the entire ecosystem of AI and the world. It is fully free and the entire project is open source. It is a new game.”

DeepSeek describes its latest open-source AI model as “revolutionary”, offering developers and researchers unprecedented access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies through free-to-use platforms like GitHub and Hugging Face.

“DeepSeek’s Janus Pro represents a significant leap forward in artificial intelligence technology, combining advanced image understanding and generation capabilities in a single, powerful model,” the startup wrote on Hugging Face.

“Its combination of advanced capabilities, open-source accessibility, and impressive performance benchmarks positions it as a significant player in the evolution of artificial intelligence technology.”

Sam Altman, who leads ChatGPT and Dall-E creator OpenAI, praised DeepSeek’s cost-effective AI, however claimed that his company would be unveiling improved models that would lead the way towards human-level artificial intelligence.

“DeepSeek’s R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they’re able to deliver for the price,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“We will obviously deliver much better models and also it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor! We will pull up some releases... Look forward to bringing you all AGI [artificial general intelligence] and beyond.”