OpenAI has claimed it has evidence that its Chinese competitor, DeepSeek, has used the US technology firm's AI model ChatGPT to train its system.

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According to a Bloomberg News report, Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s key investors, is investigating whether OpenAI’s data has been accessed without authorisation.

DeepSeek unsettles global financial markets

The launch of DeepSeek’s open-source R1 model has unsettled global financial markets, as the Chinese firm appears to have achieved similar results to its competitors at a fraction of the cost and computational resources.

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Also read: Will Deepseek-led tech rout lead to Fed rate cut?

As a result, on Monday, chip manufacturer Nvidia saw its stock suffer the largest single-day loss in market history. Shares of Meta, Microsoft, and other AI firms also saw a sharp decline.

AI firms and investors are now scrambling to assess the impact of DeepSeek’s sudden rise.

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Trump-appointed 'AI and crypto czar' backs similar claims

Concerns raised by OpenAI have been echoed by the recently appointed White House "AI and crypto czar", David Sacks, an ex-venture capitalist.

Speaking to Fox News, Sacks suggested that DeepSeek may have used OpenAI’s models to enhance its own system through a technique known as knowledge distillation.

"There's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI's models," Sacks said.

Also read: 'If you could do it cheaper...': Trump calls DeepSeek a 'wake-up call' for US tech industry

"I think one of the things you're going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation... That would definitely slow down some of these copycat models," he added.

In a statement, OpenAI claimed that Chinese and other firms are "constantly trying to distil the models of leading US AI companies".

"As we go forward... it is critically important that we are working closely with the US government to best protect the most capable models," the company added.

OpenAI has also faced criticism regarding intellectual property use. The firm is currently involved in early court hearings, led by The New York Times, in which media organisations accuse it of using their data without permission.

(With inputs from agencies)