DeepSeek released an open-source artificial intelligence model in December, saying it took only two months and less than $6 million to create it.

Silicon Valley and Washington leaders said the app shows China can challenge the U.S. The Nasdaq lost 3 percent and chipmaker Nvidia shed $589 billion in market capitalization.

A chatbot made by Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store charts in the US this week, dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app.

The Chinese start-up disrupted the AI landscape, showing that cost-effective AI models can rival larger systems, raising questions about big investments Wall Street had a rough start to the week on concern that a cheaper artificial intelligence-model from China could threaten the dominance of US technology,

China's DeepSeek overtook US rival ChatGPT in terms of Apple Store downloads, offers the prospect of a viable, cheaper AI alternative