Months after Altman called DeepSeek ‘impressive’, OpenAI accusing it of ‘cheating’

OpenAI has accused Chinese AI model DeepSeek of “free-riding” on its capabilities, alleging it uses distillation tactics to replicate US frontier models. The company detailed these accusations in a letter to US lawmakers, highlighting concerns about DeepSeek’s methods to circumvent access restrictions and mask its source. OpenAI also pointed to DeepSeek’s censorship and pro-CCP bias in its responses.