DeepSeek closes door to new users following cyberattack

ChatGPT competitor DeepSeek has been hit with “large-scale malicious attacks” that forced the company to limit app registrations.

Just after DeepSeek dethroned OpenAI’s ChatGPT from its top spot on the App Store, the company behind the artificial intelligence (AI) model revealed that it had been the target of cyber attacks.

DeepSeek’s status page shows that DeepSeek Web and API are experiencing “degraded performance.”

The API service suffered a major outage on the 27th of January for roughly two hours, and the Web Chat Service (its AI model) was down worldwide for around 16 hours.

In an update, DeepSeek said that because of “large-scale malicious attacks” on the company’s services, it would be “temporarily limiting registrations” to ensure continued service for existing users.

When attempting to register to DeepSeek’s services, an error message appeared saying that due to malicious attacks, new users are unable to register, “please wait and try again.”

However, those who have already registered should be able to log in.

DeepSeek’s application is an AI assistant similar to that of OpenAI’s AI model. The Chinese-made AI model took the top spot on Apple’s App Store, overtaking ChatGPT.

This latest development from China is a big wake-up call for the US, as DeepSeek claims that it spent only $6 million on Nvidia’s H800 chips to train its AI model. Bringing into question the US’ need for expensive AI chips.

This claim, although not corroborated, shook investors as Nasdaq futures fell over 3%, and S&P 500 futures tumbled nearly 2%.

Dominant chip makers like Nvidia dropped by 8.4%, Microsoft slid by 4%, and Alphabet dropped 3.1%, along with European tech stocks that slid over 5%.