DeepSeek’s R1, AI Agent, and Everything Else [2025]

Earlier this year, DeepSeek shocked the AI world with the launch of R1, a reasoning model that was fast, open-source, and cheap to build. Tech stocks in the U.S. plummeted. Nvidia lost $600 billion in market cap. 

Now, DeepSeek is gearing up to release a fully autonomous AI agent. Building on the success of R1, the upcoming system promises to handle multi-step tasks, integrate tools, and operate with minimal human oversight. If successful, it won’t just be a cost-saving alternative; it could lead to the next phase of the AI arms race.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What Is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI startup founded in 2023 by hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng, headquartered in Hangzhou. 

Despite being relatively unknown a year ago, it’s now one of the fastest-growing and most talked-about AI companies on the planet. 

Unlike U.S. giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, DeepSeek has built its models with a fraction of the compute and a fraction of the cost. According to reports, DeepSeek R1 was trained for just ~$6 million, compared to GPT-4’s estimated $100 million training cost. Equally, it achieved this using more efficient infrastructure and fewer chips. 

When Did DeepSeek Come Out?

DeepSeek first appeared in early 2023, but it wasn’t until January 2025 that it made headlines with the release of DeepSeek R1, its flagship reasoning model. R1 instantly went viral for three reasons:

• It could show its full reasoning steps, like a student showing their math homework.
• It outperformed GPT-4 o1-mini on several benchmarks.
• It cost only $6 million to train, compared to hundreds of millions for GPT-4.

By the end of January, DeepSeek had become the #1 free app on both the App Store and Google Play in dozens of countries.

Why Is DeepSeek Server Always Busy?

Simply put: demand for DeepSeek is exploding.

After R1 went viral, DeepSeek experienced multiple outages and DDoS attacks. The company had to restrict sign-ups and limit API usage to throttle server loads.

In addition, DeepSeek’s open nature makes it a popular target for:

• Scrapers trying to reverse engineer model behavior
• Grey-market apps reselling API access
• U.S. watchdog groups monitoring for data privacy risks

If you see the "server busy" message, try again during off-peak hours or download the local version.

What Is the DeepSeek AI Agent?

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According to Bloomberg and ZDNet, DeepSeek is preparing to release a fully autonomous AI agent by the end of 2025. This won’t be just another chatbot. It will be a full agentic AI system, capable of:

1. Multi-step task execution
2. Decision making
3. API usage
4. App navigation and screen control

In August, DeepSeek announced that V3 was their "first step toward the agent era." It already supports advanced memory and planning features. Expect the agent to build on that with:

• Tool use (like calculators or browsers)
• Real-world productivity tasks (emails, bookings, research)
• Code execution and workflow orchestration

Who Owns DeepSeek?

DeepSeek was founded by Liang Wenfeng, a former hedge fund manager. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, but receives support from China’s national AI strategy known as "AI+".

In fact, DeepSeek is integrated into China’s smart city experiments like Xiong’an, where it's used for:

• Government hotline triage
• Agricultural planning
• Robotic baristas (yes, really)

It’s also received attention from major funds tied to the Chinese government, which invested $8.4 billion into practical AI startups in early 2025.

Can You Run DeepSeek Locally?

Yes. DeepSeek R1 and V3 are both available as open-source model checkpoints. Developers have already run them on:

• Local GPUs (Nvidia 3090 or better)
• Google Colab notebooks
• Cloud infrastructure (AWS, AliCloud, etc.)

This gives you the flexibility to:

• Bypass rate limits
• Build your own app on top of R1
• Fine-tune the model for custom use cases

How to Buy DeepSeek Stock?

Not yet.

DeepSeek remains private, but rumors of a Shanghai STAR Market listing swirl in China’s investor circles. For now, your best bet is:

• Watch for IPO rumors
• Invest in supporting infrastructure (Nvidia, ASML, cloud providers)
• Track downstream apps that integrate DeepSeek models

But if DeepSeek continues to expand into infrastructure, agents, and enterprise AI, don’t be surprised if it hits the public markets soon, especially if the U.S. tightens export controls or limits AI chip access.

DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Key Differences

I’ve used both DeepSeek and ChatGPT, and they each have their strengths. DeepSeek is faster, open-source, and surprisingly good at coding tasks, especially if you’re doing algorithmic work or want something lightweight. But it really struggles with accuracy, especially on factual stuff, and tends to censor certain topics, which can be frustrating.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, is way more reliable. It’s better at writing, research, creative tasks, and just general day-to-day use. The overall experience feels more polished, and you can trust it more when it comes to getting facts right or having thoughtful conversations.

Here’s a summary table: 

Final Take

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DeepSeek is more than a cheaper ChatGPT and symbolizes the global acceleration of AI. While Silicon Valley debates safety protocols and model weights, China is shipping autonomous agents, open-sourcing reasoning models, and embedding AI into the real world. 

Now’s the time to stop watching and start building. The best way to explore agentic AI isn’t waiting for another frontier model to drop. It’s to build one yourself.

Tools like Voiceflow make it easy to design, test, and deploy your own AI agents, no PhD required! 

Whether you’re automating a customer support rep, building a research assistant, or deploying a full-stack agent that runs your workflow, the tech is here. Start building with Voiceflow today!