The rapid rise of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has created significant internal tensions at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
According to a Wired report, DeepSeek’s latest AI model- R1, has concerned OpenAI employees that their company could soon be outpaced in the race for AI supremacy. A part of the reason is the power struggle between the company's research and product groups.
While OpenAI’s o1 "reasoning" model, developed by the research group, received the most public attention, some insiders feel that leadership isn't giving enough importance to the chat function. In the Wired report, one former OpenAI employee shared that the company’s leadership didn’t prioritize chat-related advancements, which added to the sense of disconnect.
Another former OpenAI researcher pointed out that DeepSeek's approach to reinforcement learning was similar to OpenAI’s but was executed with "better data and a cleaner stack."
According to Futurism, while OpenAI's o1 model remained experimental, DeepSeek managed to push ahead with its more polished version.
This has led to major internal tension, with one researcher questioning why the team was still working on experimental code instead of pushing those advancements into the core product research. The employee questioned “Why are we doing this in the experimental codebase? Shouldn’t we be doing this in the main product research codebase?” as quoted by Wired. But there was "major pushback" internally, the report added.
The friction comes from disagreements between OpenAI’s research and product teams about priorities, especially in response to DeepSeek’s advancements. Some employees feel the leadership isn’t focusing enough on chat improvements, which has created divisions within the company.
What does this mean for AI industry investors?
The internal strife at OpenAI and the rapid rise of DeepSeek have raised questions about whether investors are overpaying for companies like OpenAI, especially as the industry grapples with the costs of scaling AI and powering massive data centres, according to reports.
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While OpenAI’s o1 "reasoning" model, developed by the research group, received the most public attention, some insiders feel that leadership isn't giving enough importance to the chat function. In the Wired report, one former OpenAI employee shared that the company’s leadership didn’t prioritize chat-related advancements, which added to the sense of disconnect.
Another former OpenAI researcher pointed out that DeepSeek's approach to reinforcement learning was similar to OpenAI’s but was executed with "better data and a cleaner stack."
According to Futurism, while OpenAI's o1 model remained experimental, DeepSeek managed to push ahead with its more polished version.
This has led to major internal tension, with one researcher questioning why the team was still working on experimental code instead of pushing those advancements into the core product research. The employee questioned “Why are we doing this in the experimental codebase? Shouldn’t we be doing this in the main product research codebase?” as quoted by Wired. But there was "major pushback" internally, the report added.
FAQs
Why is OpenAI facing internal conflict?The friction comes from disagreements between OpenAI’s research and product teams about priorities, especially in response to DeepSeek’s advancements. Some employees feel the leadership isn’t focusing enough on chat improvements, which has created divisions within the company.
What does this mean for AI industry investors?
The internal strife at OpenAI and the rapid rise of DeepSeek have raised questions about whether investors are overpaying for companies like OpenAI, especially as the industry grapples with the costs of scaling AI and powering massive data centres, according to reports.
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