OpenAI believes DeepSeek used a process called “distillation,” which helps make smaller AI models perform better by learning from larger ones.

OpenAI, the San Francisco-based creator of ChatGPT, has raised concerns over alleged intellectual property breaches by DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence start-up.

Sam Altman’s OpenAI said Chinese competitor DeepSeek could be committing intellectual property theft. DeepSeek, an emerging Chinese artificial intelligence company, sent shockwaves through the technology world when its AI model surged to the top of the app store in the United States this week.