DeepSeek’s AI assistant app has topped the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store for a week, a major milestone for the Chinese startup.
The app debuted at the top of the U.S. free app chart on Jan. 26 and has held the top spot since then. According to Sensor Tower, the app was downloaded 16 million times within 18 days of its launch, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT app’s record of 9 million downloads in the same time frame.
DeepSeek’s AI assistant is also the most downloaded free app on Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) App Store, a position it has held since Jan. 28. The company claims its latest large-scale language model is comparable to OpenAI’s GPT-4 but was developed at a fraction of the cost.
The app’s meteoric rise has raised concerns among governments around the world. Taiwan on Monday banned state agencies from using the app, citing security risks. Authorities in Italy, South Korea, France and Ireland are also reviewing its data privacy practices. DeepSeek’s AI assistant app has been ranked No. 1 on Apple’s (AAPL) App Store for a week.
The app debuted on the U.S. free app chart on Jan. 26 and has held the top spot since then. According to Sensor Tower, the app was downloaded 16 million times in the 18 days after its release. By comparison, OpenAI’s ChatGPT app was downloaded only 9 million times in the 18 days after its release.
DeepSeek’s AI assistant also topped the Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) App Store free download chart, a position it has held since Jan. 28.
Chinese startup DeepSeek says its latest large-scale language model is comparable to Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s o1 model. The startup also claims that it was developed at a fraction of the cost of the latter. DeepSeek’s sudden popularity caused volatility in U.S. tech stocks last week.
However, some governments are moving quickly to ban government agencies from using the app. On Monday, Taiwan banned its government agencies from using DeepSeek, citing security risks. Agencies in Italy, South Korea, France, Ireland and other countries are also investigating DeepSeek’s use of personal data.