On Monday, President Trump stated that the sudden rise of the Chinese AI application DeepSeek "should be a wake-up call for US tech companies," adding that it is a positive development for Chinese companies to develop cheaper and more efficient AI models.

Trump said he still expects US tech companies to dominate the AI field, but he acknowledged the challenge posed by DeepSeek, a low-cost AI assistant that surged to the top of the Apple App Store over the weekend.

"The launch of DeepSeek AI by a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industry. We need to focus on competition," he said while traveling in Florida.

DeepSeek has caused panic in the US tech industry and stock market. According to the little-known Chinese startup behind DeepSeek, it performed well in tests compared to competitive models from Meta and OpenAI, while its development cost was much lower.

Trump said he believes low-cost models are a "very positive development" for the AI industry as a whole because "instead of spending billions, you spend less and hopefully get the same solution."

DeepSeek is the latest in a series of Chinese applications that have soared in popularity in the US in recent weeks. Previously, as TikTok was on the brink of being banned, Americans turned to Chinese apps Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 as alternatives. Ultimately, TikTok was taken offline for less than a day before resuming service for existing users, but it remains unavailable for download from the Apple and Google app stores.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order revoking certain Biden administration regulations on AI development, which he claimed were holding the industry back.

However, it is unclear what new AI policies, if any, the Trump administration or Congress might take in response to the rise of DeepSeek.

John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Special Committee on China and a congressman from Michigan, said on Monday that he would like to see the US take action to curb the growth of DeepSeek.

DeepSeek's developers said they managed to create the app despite current US export controls on high-performance semiconductors, which sparked a heated online debate on Monday about the effectiveness of hardware limitations and their future.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia defended existing export controls related to advanced chip technology and said more regulation might be needed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called DeepSeek a "serious threat."

David Sacks, the White House director of AI and cryptocurrency, said in an article on X that DeepSeek's success "demonstrates that the AI race will be very intense." He also said that the previous executive order on the issue by former President Biden "hampered" US AI companies.

"We have confidence in the US, but we cannot be complacent," he wrote.

On Monday, President Trump stated that the sudden rise of the Chinese AI application DeepSeek "should be a wake-up call for US tech companies," adding that it is a positive development for Chinese companies to develop cheaper and more efficient AI models.

Trump said he still expects US tech companies to dominate the AI field, but he acknowledged the challenge posed by DeepSeek, a low-cost AI assistant that surged to the top of the Apple App Store over the weekend.

"The launch of DeepSeek AI by a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industry. We need to focus on competition," he said while traveling in Florida.

DeepSeek has caused panic in the US tech industry and stock market. According to the little-known Chinese startup behind DeepSeek, it performed well in tests compared to competitive models from Meta and OpenAI, while its development cost was much lower.

Trump said he believes low-cost models are a "very positive development" for the AI industry as a whole because "instead of spending billions, you spend less and hopefully get the same solution."

DeepSeek is the latest in a series of Chinese applications that have soared in popularity in the US in recent weeks. Previously, as TikTok was on the brink of being banned, Americans turned to Chinese apps Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 as alternatives. Ultimately, TikTok was taken offline for less than a day before resuming service for existing users, but it remains unavailable for download from the Apple and Google app stores.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order revoking certain Biden administration regulations on AI development, which he claimed were holding the industry back.

However, it is unclear what new AI policies, if any, the Trump administration or Congress might take in response to the rise of DeepSeek.

John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Special Committee on China and a congressman from Michigan, said on Monday that he would like to see the US take action to curb the growth of DeepSeek.

DeepSeek's developers said they managed to create the app despite current US export controls on high-performance semiconductors, which sparked a heated online debate on Monday about the effectiveness of hardware limitations and their future.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia defended existing export controls related to advanced chip technology and said more regulation might be needed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called DeepSeek a "serious threat."

David Sacks, the White House director of AI and cryptocurrency, said in an article on X that DeepSeek's success "demonstrates that the AI race will be very intense." He also said that the previous executive order on the issue by former President Biden "hampered" US AI companies.

"We have confidence in the US, but we cannot be complacent," he wrote.