Microsoft said on Wednesday that the R1 artificial intelligence model from Chinese firm DeepSeek is now accessible on its Azure cloud computing platform and developer tool, GitHub, Microsoft has increased the scope of its artificial intelligence products.
With this change, Microsoft’s library of more than 1,800 AI models that developers may use has grown significantly.
“The AI model will join the more than 1,800 models that Microsoft is offering and be accessible in the model catalogue on the platforms,” the company said.
Just last week, DeepSeek unveiled its R1 model, which claims to be a more affordable and data-efficient substitute for current AI helpers. The concept is currently available to developers on GitHub and Azure, which makes it a desirable choice for anyone looking for less expensive and resource-intensive solutions.
Investors in IT stocks became alarmed after DeepSeek’s AI assistant overtook ChatGPT, a U.S.-based app, in terms of downloads on Apple‘s App Store by Monday.
According to a Reuters story from last month, the business has been striving to integrate both internal and external AI models to power its main AI product, Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Additionally, this development coincides with Microsoft’s efforts to lessen its reliance on ChatGPT‘s creator, OpenAI. According to reports from last month, Microsoft has been concentrating on integrating both internal and external AI models to support its flagship product, Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft said that users would soon be able to run the R1 model locally on their Copilot+ PCs, which may allay worries about data sharing and privacy.
Microsoft has been trying to lessen its reliance on OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT. Microsoft 365 Copilot, the company’s main AI tool, has been powered by both internal and external AI models, according to Reuters.
It is anticipated that this capability would allay worries about data sharing and privacy hazards related to cloud-based models.
Although DeepSeek’s R1 model has attracted interest, concerns have been expressed over its possible adoption in the United States due to its connections to China.
The business has acknowledged that it keeps customer data on Chinese servers, which may be problematic for American consumers who are worried about data security.
“DeepSeek has stated that it keeps user data on Chinese servers, which may be a barrier to its adoption in the United States,” the business added.
In the meanwhile, Microsoft and OpenAI are looking into whether a group connected to DeepSeek inappropriately accessed data from OpenAI’s technology.
Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest technology partner and investor, alerted OpenAI to the questionable activities.
According to a Tuesday Bloomberg News story, Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating if data produced from OpenAI’s technology was illegally acquired by a party associated with DeepSeek.
According to the sources cited by Bloomberg, “such actions could constitute a violation of OpenAI’s terms of service or an attempt to bypass restrictions on data usage if confirmed.”
Additionally, on Wednesday a strange day given that it was the first day of the Lunar New Year China’s Alibaba unveiled an updated version of its Qwen 2.5 AI model.
In order to increase productivity and efficiency, OpenAI then introduced ChatGPT Gov, a customised version of ChatGPT for US government organizations. It is intended to tackle difficult public sector issues in fields like infrastructure, national security, and health. ChatGPT Gov may be hosted by agencies on Microsoft Azure, guaranteeing adherence to privacy and security guidelines.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the business will “pull up some releases” in response to DeepSeek’s sudden arrival on the AI arena. On Tuesday, the company published a customized version of ChatGPT for US federal organizations.