A new AI assistant, DeepSeek, has taken the tech world by storm—so much so that it dethroned ChatGPT as the most downloaded app in the U.S. Apple Store. As this Chinese AI startup gains traction, its rise is rattling the stock market, causing major tech stocks, including Nvidia, to plummet. But why is DeepSeek’s emergence so disruptive? This lesson explores how AI innovation, cost efficiency, and geopolitical tensions are reshaping the global AI landscape. Perfect for advanced English learners, this material introduces key business and technology vocabulary while offering a thought-provoking discussion on the future of AI competition.
| The stock market reacts to Chinese AI startup DeepSeek |
Warm-up question: Do you usually try new apps as soon as they come out, or do you wait to see if they become popular first? Why?
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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Today, DeepSeek – that’s an AI assistant from a Chinese startup – it became the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Apple Store. That means it dethroned ChatGPT, the American-made AI app. Well, the news is rattling U.S. tech companies. The Nasdaq closed down more than 600 points today. So what do we know so far about the new AI stir in town and why it has tech investors so jittery. For help answering this, we are joined by our business correspondent, Maria Aspan. Hi there.
MARIA ASPAN, BYLINE: Hey there, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hey. So DeepSeek, I hadn’t even heard of it. It seems like it came out of nowhere, and now everywhere I look, it’s there today. What is it, exactly?
ASPAN: I mean, I feel the same way. But, specifically, it did come out of China. DeepSeek is a Chinese startup founded more than a year ago by a hedge fund manager named Liang Wenfeng, and it was a virtual unknown until last Monday when it released a free AI assistant – basically, DeepSeek’s own version of ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. DeepSeek’s chatbot can answer questions, search the web, solve puzzles. And some AI experts have given it rave reviews. They say that it performs almost as well as the established AI models. And DeepSeek says it does that at a fraction of the cost.
Now, that’s causing a lot of buzz. The tech investor Marc Andreessen said on X that DeepSeek is one of the most amazing and impressive breakthroughs I’ve ever seen. And since, in the past week, it’s become heavily downloaded, as you mentioned. It’s very popular. And in fact, today, DeepSeek said it was the victim of a cyberattack, without offering any further details, and said it actually had to limit registrations for new users.
KELLY: OK, so to sum up, you’re saying it’s new, it’s Chinese. AI experts say it’s really impressive. Why then are tech investors reacting so badly in the markets?
ASPAN: Well, it might also be starting a price war. DeepSeek says it spent less than $6 million training one of its AI models. That is incredibly cheap, especially in comparison to what we’ve heard from some established AI companies, which say they could spend up to $1 billion training models. Now, DeepSeek says it uses less advanced chips, but it’s still been able to deliver this product that seems sophisticated and efficient.
I have to say, there are a lot of questions still lingering. DeepSeek did make its technology open-source, but we don’t know yet if all of its claims about how cheap and efficient it is will bear out. And it is, of course, a Chinese company at a time when trade and tech relations between the U.S. and China are really bad. You know, President Trump has made it clear he wants the U.S. to be the AI leader, so this could also ratchet up tensions between the two countries.
KELLY: So in the stock market today, we said it’s down. Who were the big losers?
ASPAN: Well, so we saw a lot of chip companies and tech companies sell off today. And the Nasdaq in particular is very tech stock heavy, so when it has a bad day, that often means something’s going on in the tech industry. But there is one biggest loser here, and it is Nvidia. That, of course, is the buzzy chip company that’s been dominating the AI hardware race. Last year, we saw Nvidia’s stock shoot up so much that it became one of the most valuable companies in the world.
But today, Nvidia had an absolutely terrible day in the stock market. Its shares dropped about 17%, and it lost half a trillion dollars in value. That said, Nvidia is almost more important as a bellwether for the larger AI industry. And, as you know, AI has been this big story of the tech industry over the past year. There’s been this ongoing question of, is it a bubble?
KELLY: NPR’s Maria Aspan, thank you.
Vocabulary and Phrases:
- Dethroned: Removed from the top position or ranking; replaced as the leader or most popular.
- Rattling: Causing worry or nervousness, often by disrupting expectations.
- Jittery: Feeling nervous, anxious, or unsettled, often due to uncertainty.
- Hedge fund: A type of investment fund that pools money from investors to make high-risk, high-reward financial moves.
- Rave reviews: Extremely positive feedback or praise, often from experts or critics.
- Buzz: Excitement or widespread attention around a new product, idea, or event.
- Sum up: To briefly explain or summarize the main points of something.
- Sophisticated: Highly developed, advanced, or complex.
- Bear out: To confirm or prove something to be true based on evidence.
- Ratchet up: To gradually increase the intensity, pressure, or level of something.
- Bellwether: Something or someone that indicates trends or predicts future developments, often in business or politics.
Comprehension Questions:
- What is DeepSeek, and why has it gained popularity so quickly?
- Why are some AI experts giving DeepSeek rave reviews?
- How does DeepSeek claim to be more cost-efficient than its competitors?
- What concerns remain about DeepSeek’s AI model and its impact on the industry?
- Why did Nvidia’s stock value drop so significantly?
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever been excited about a new app or technology? What made it stand out to you?
- Do you think AI companies should prioritize cost efficiency, or is it more important to invest heavily in development?
- How do you feel about a Chinese company competing with major U.S. tech firms in the AI industry?
- In what ways do you think AI will change the technology we use daily in the next five years?
- When investing in technology companies, would you focus on established firms like Nvidia or emerging startups like DeepSeek? Why?
Vocabulary Practice
Fill in the blanks using the target vocabulary words/phrases.
- The new streaming service quickly ________ Netflix, becoming the most popular platform.
- News of the sudden stock market crash left many investors feeling ________ about their financial future.
- The startup received ________ from tech critics for its groundbreaking AI assistant.
- The CEO’s decision to cut prices has caused a lot of ________ in the industry, with everyone wondering what will happen next.
- The experiment results will ________ whether the company’s claims about its product are true.
- The government is expected to ________ pressure on tech companies to disclose more about their AI research.
- Google is often seen as a ________ for the tech industry, as its success signals trends for other companies.
- The company’s AI model is incredibly ________, able to analyze millions of data points in seconds.
- Can you ________ the main reasons why investors are so worried about this new technology?
- A ________ manager oversees large amounts of money, making high-risk investments in stocks, commodities, and other assets.
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