I recently read an article in the blogosphere — don't ask me where because I wouldn't remember — in which it was mentioned that Google was in a bit of trouble. The reason: young people no longer use it, and those of us who are not so young also trust models like ChatGPT more. In short, we would say that people search less and ask AI more. In addition, it is a trend that seems to continue, partly due to the arrival of new models like DeepSeek.
The same thing happened to me with DeepSeek as with ChatGPT: at first I didn't even know what they were talking about, and later I didn't use it either because it was registration required. Having found the website and decided to try out the tool, I am now a daily user of the OpenAI chatbot. I saw something about DeepSeek on X, previously Twitter, a while ago, but I hadn't used it until a little over a week ago. To make things easier for you, the link is this.
DeepSeek is free, but some features are missing
DeepSeek was born in 2023. At that time, ChatGPT had already exploded, but the Chinese model has not done so until 2025. And they have recently launched their R1 model which, according to many, can reason better than ChatGPTBut for those who don't know anything about all this, let's start at the beginning.
DeepSeek is an artificial intelligence model that we interact with through a chat. It is open source, and rivals other LLM models such as the aforementioned ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, among others. It comes from China, and I am fully aware that for many this may be a problem. It is not for me.
Among other things, for being open source and for his "lack of memory". Is it a good thing that a model like this doesn't have memory? If you want privacy, of course. CharGPT can match chats, but that also means it knows things about us — and if you don't believe it, ask it to roast you without holding back. DeepSeek works by separate chats, and here we have the first difference with the OpenAI benchmark.
Interface traced to ChatGPT
Another difference is that DeepSeek can't create images Like ChatGPT or Grok, not at the moment. It doesn't have any models or apps either, but in every other way it looks similar.
The interface looks like a carbon copyI decided to ask, and DeepSeek's response to this coincidence was that it is the most normal thing given what it intends to do. If you take a look at the screenshot above, you will see that it has a left panel that can be closed and where the chat history is located — independent, as we have already mentioned — and user options, as well as a link to download the mobile app.
In the most important part, a chat. The options allow us to activate the model R1, which reasons more and better, and searches, which means that its knowledge limit is expanded. It is true that it can become slightly slower, but it has options.
Unlimited?
Perhaps the most striking thing is the price. ChatGPT will use a non-last model after several messages, but DeepSeek will always work the same and Always free.
As for the answers, is it better? Many say yes, but in my opinion it may be the placebo effect of using something new and different. It feels more direct, less rambling, but it is very similar, at least to answering normal questions in text form. I have not yet tried it with code because I have not needed it. The truth is that it is a young model, and it is revealing that Many prefer it to ChatGPT.
To tell a little more about my impressions, I am using both — three counting the DuckDuckGo version –, but I have been using DeepSeek for a while now and it works well for me. This is a more private and open source tool, so it is better if the results are similar.
Although we must remain skeptical about the "private" thing, because right now there is the same concern that there was with ChatGPT at the beginning, and even It is even claimed that our data is going to China. I leave the data there.
Now, ChatGPT will still be at the top like Google is with searches, but we already know what they say about tall towers. And if you don't know, just ask DeepSeek.