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Don’t Fall for False DeepSeek R1 News! Let’s Set the Record Straight
DeepSeek R1 has been making waves recently, becoming the talk of the AI world with its groundbreaking capabilities. But with fame comes a flood of misinformation. Many “hot takes” about DeepSeek R1 floating around are inaccurate or downright misleading. Let’s clarify what DeepSeek R1 is, what it isn’t, and why it’s a truly remarkable achievement in AI.
1. The $6M Training Myth: Not the Full Picture
You might have heard claims that DeepSeek R1’s training cost only ~$6M. That’s far from accurate. While the compute for the base model (no reinforcement learning) was equivalent to GPU hours worth $5.5M, this figure excludes critical factors like:
- Ablation studies
- Smaller experimental runs
- Data generation efforts
- Full-scale training runs for DeepSeek R1
When all these components are factored in, the real cost far surpasses the $6M figure circulating online. This wasn’t a budget operation by any means!
2. Not Just a Side Project: High-Flyer’s Billion-Dollar Backing
DeepSeek R1 didn’t magically appear as the product of a small research lab or a group of…
