Summary
- DeepSeek competes with ChatGPT in several key areas, like generating text and summarizing documents.
- DeepSeek currently can’t create images and regularly suffers from service outages.
- ChatGPT is more versatile, but you’ll pay for its premium features.
DeepSeek, an AI chatbot from a Chinese startup by the same name, is still topping the App Store charts in the US, riding high on the viral popularity it’s earned in the last few weeks. The app has been favorably compared to ChatGPT in its speed and accuracy, but most importantly, it’s free, and reportedly much less expensive to run than OpenAI’s models.
Specifically, DeepSeek’s V3 model (the one available on the web and in the company’s app) directly competes with GPT-4o and DeepThink r1, DeepSeek’s reasoning model, is supposed to be competitive with OpenAI’s o1 model. Raw performance on AI benchmarks and tests matters a lot less than how each AI tool feels to use and what they can do for the average person. DeepSeek and ChatGPT share some important similarities, but they also have key differences that might matter to you as a user. Here’s how the two AI assistants compare, in terms of generating text, creating images, working with pre-existing files, ease-of-use, and privacy.
ChatGPT
The flagship chatbot and large language model (LLM) service from OpenAI, which can answer complex queries and leverage generative AI skill sets.
- OS
- iOS, Android, macOS, Windows
- App
- Free, with in-app purchases
DeepSeek- AI Assistant
DeepSeek is a new AI chatbot that looks to rival’s ChatGPT abilities at a fraction of the cost. The app is available for free on the App Store and Play Store.
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Both assistants are competent at generating text
Though ChatGPT goes below surface level
In order to test DeepSeek and ChatGPT’s text generation skills, I looked at two different types of “writing” that commonly get pitched as use-cases for AI: writing an email and writing a short story. Both DeepSeek and ChatGPT did a fine job generating an email excuse to get me out of a Friday meeting, with an appropriately formal tone, and clear places I could slot in pertinent details to personalize it to my job. ChatGPT seemed ever so slightly more natural to me, but both AI chatbots were able to meet the demands of the prompt. Notably, it seemed like DeepSeek tried to do so literally. I included a note that the email should be professional, and DeepSeek included the word “professional” in its email.
When it came to creative writing, I think the differences between the two AI assistants were more pronounced. Neither AI wrote what I would describe as a “good” 500-word story about a robot, but they each had features that were promising or could be reworked into a better, human-made story. DeepSeek attempted to use imagery in a way that was creative and went beyond the bare minimum, while ChatGPT read again as more natural, with a more consistent sense of character. Both AIs made choices that made their stories more confusing, and strangely, both decided to end their stories on a positive note that felt forced. Maybe ChatGPT is a slightly more flexible and adaptable writer, but DeepSeek’s results were close enough that if you’re already using ChatGPT for writing, you probably won’t notice the difference.
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DeepSeek can’t generate images
ChatGPT is visual in a way DeepSeek can’t be
An important difference between DeepSeek and ChatGPT is that DeepSeek has no built-in image generation capabilities, something OpenAI offers to even free users of ChatGPT via its DALL-E model. When I asked DeepSeek to “create a hand-drawn picture of a duck wearing clown shoes,” it said it couldn’t do it and instead offered written instructions on how to draw a duck. ChatGPT was more than happy to spit out an image, though an incorrect one that showed a duck standing near clown shoes rather than wearing them. I’m not particularly happy with the first results from either AI assistant, but at least ChatGPT can create images.
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Both AI assistants are relatively good at working with files and documents
DeepSeek outages might prevent you from doing it, though
Both DeepSeek and ChatGPT can technically work with your existing documents and files, by interpreting them (through OCR), and then summarizing, analyzing, and editing them based on your prompts. If there’s a defined use-case for generative AI, it seems like it’s this.
When I attempted to test the feature on DeepSeek, the AI assistant continually failed to upload my document. I tried different documents and I tried resizing the ones I tried before, but I couldn’t get it to work. I’d managed to upload a PDF and get DeepSeek to summarize it before, and revisiting the AI assistant a few days later I was able to get it to work, but not everyone is going to have that time. I mention it because that’s a pretty common experience using DeepSeek right now. The AI assistant has suffered from outages preventing users from logging in or making new accounts, and I’ve seen more than a few people having a hard time uploading their own documents. DeepSeek is currently not able to keep up with demand.
DeepSeek is currently not able to keep up with demand.
In comparison, ChatGPT was able to summarize the contents of my PDF and offer key points, though I don’t think it followed my request exactly. I asked for a summary and key things to highlight in an article based on my uploaded PDF, and it gave me a one-line summary and dozens of bullet points. Not wrong, but not helpful in the way I was hoping.
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ChatGPT has a more user-friendly interface
DeepSeek is simpler, though
Both DeepSeek and ChatGPT have reasonably simple interfaces. They approach interactions with AI first and foremost as a chat with another person. DeepSeek offers nothing beyond this basic chat interface. It’s easy to understand, but isn’t always the best way to present information.
ChatGPT attempts to be more flexible and friendly, presenting more fully-featured links from the web when appropriate, and offering a full-on word processor in its Canvas feature when you want to work side-by-side with a generative AI. On the whole, ChatGPT is trying to be much more of an application (it technically exists as multiple apps), whereas DeepSeek is more straightforward, at least for now.
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ChatGPT gives you more options to protect your privacy
DeepSeek still has known privacy issues
DeepSeek has already reportedly exposed sensitive information from users by accident. The privacy policy you agree to during the account creation process allows DeepSeek to share your information with government bodies if they ask. It’s not exactly a platform focused on privacy. On top of that, the controls you get inside DeepSeek are pretty limited. You can delete your chats or delete your account, and that’s basically it.
ChatGPT isn’t some bastion of security and privacy, either, but it does give you a few more options. OpenAI has had its own privacy issues — in 2023 it admitted to leaking user’s chat histories — and it’s not clear how quickly the company will fold when law enforcement asks for information about how a suspect uses ChatGPT. In the AI tool itself, you have control over whether OpenAI is able to use your information to train AI models (both text chats and voice recordings), you can clear ChatGPT’s memory of any details it might have saved about you and keep it from remembering things in the future, and you can delete all of your chats. Everyone deserves more control than that, but it’s at least more than DeepSeek offers.
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Which Al assistant is better between DeepSeek and ChatGPT?
DeepSeek’s benefits are technical rather than practical at the moment
When it comes to generating text and working with files, DeepSeek and ChatGPT are more similar than they are different. ChatGPT might be more natural and a little bit more detailed than DeepSeek, but you’re likely to get what you need regardless of the AI assistant you turn to. When you go past text and solving logic problems, though, there’s more of a clear winner. ChatGPT’s voice mode, unique interface features like canvas, and relative reliability in comparison to DeepSeek all seem like things that could really start to matter once you start using an AI assistant for more than just answering a question or summarizing a document.
DeepSeek is bound to improve, but it also seems like it will struggle under the weight of demand for at least the near future. The company is already limiting access to its AI model in an attempt to deal with server demand. If things continue how they’re currently going, it probably won’t be the only tactic the company takes to stay online. Lawmakers are also already working on preventing DeepSeek from being usable in the US. For those reasons and more, unless you’re focused on only working with text, or absolutely need a free option without limits, ChatGPT is the better choice than DeepSeek. The real benefit of DeepSeek is what it has already technically proven: that building and running an AI doesn’t need to be as expensive as OpenAI, Google, and others have made it seem.
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