The recent surge of the potentially disruptive R1 AI model by Chinese startup DeepSeek is forcing tech leaders from OpenAI, Microsoft, and Nvidia to speak up to reassure investors.

There's a new entrant in the Artificial Intelligence chatbot market from China. It is competing with giants like OpenAI, Gemini, ClaudeAI, etc. disrupting the American hegemony in AI-based generative chatbot models.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday called Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's R1 an "impressive model" and pledged his company would "deliver much better models" in the future. Why it matters: DeepSeek's announcement that its new model that's cheaper than U.

Nvidia called DeepSeek's R1 model "an excellent AI advancement," despite the Chinese startup's emergence causing the chip maker's stock price to plunge 17%.