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Chinese AI lab DeepSeek made headlines and caused disruption in the AI industry when it launched the R1 model in 2025. It uses a concept called mixture of experts (MoE) to efficiently generate AI responses at a much cheaper cost than its competitors. This resulted in the DeepSeek app becoming very popular in a short span of time. The R1 model launch triggered a global technology stock selloff in 2025 and made a clear statement to Western AI companies: China was by no means behind in the AI race. The company recently launched the V4-Flash model, which is over 90% cheaper to run than peer models such as Kimi K3, GPT-5.6 Sol, and Claude Fable 5. However, it must be noted that the cost-effective DeepSeek models are subject to censorship imposed by local Chinese laws, which may curb the company's future growth.…