The price of Bitcoin dipped below $98,000 Monday after DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, threw a wrench into Wall Street’s favorite narrative.

Introducing an open-source AI model called DeepSeek R1, the startup’s researchers claim that the model can outmatch OpenAI’s most advanced reasoning systems—at a fraction of the cost. 

Using a novel learning method, running queries with DeepSeek R1 is 98% cheaper than OpenAI’s flagship model, and it also purportedly cost much less to train than OpenAI’s GPT models and other rivals. That could put mountains of cash spent on AI development by tech giants under scrutiny, with Microsoft, Meta, and