The unexpectedly powerful Chinese AI model DeepSeek has shaken up the artificial intelligence industry, with experts online predicting it will profoundly impact even the healthcare sector.
According to analysts, DeepSeek's advanced capabilities could enable smaller hospitals and research groups to run sophisticated models on their own hardware, eliminating the need for large-scale infrastructure. This shift could reshape the industry by making cutting-edge AI tools more accessible and affordable, fostering innovation across diverse healthcare settings.
Also read | Data Privacy Day: What it means for India as China’s DeepSeek upends AI
Dr. Jon Slotkin, who according to his bio online is "a practising neurosurgeon, health system leader, and multi-time co-founder and CMO at successful digital health and device companies," posted on X that DeepSeek R1 is moving markets for good reason.
“Their team dropped a research paper this week showing part of how they matched GPT4's performance at 5% of the cost. For those in healthcare watching, the implications are big,” he said in the post while adding that DeepSeek AI develops reasoning capabilities entirely on its own through pure exploration and refinement.
Also read | Who owns DeepSeek? How Chinese AI 'Sputnik' disrupted US and global stocks
“Think smaller hospitals and research groups running sophisticated models on their own hardware. The combination of faster processing and 95% cost reduction could finally break down the resource barriers that have partially held back widespread clinical AI adoption," he said.
However, he did caution that while the tool could "democratise health care AI, it's coming from a foreign adversary." "That means we need serious conversations about validation frameworks, data security, and what it means for the future of biomedical innovation. The opportunities are enormous, but so are the strategic considerations,” he continued.
The DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Chinese hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng, who previously co-founded High-Flyer, one of China’s top hedge funds specialising in AI-driven quantitative trading.
President Donald Trump called China’s DeepSeek AI model a “wake-up call” for American companies and acknowledged that faster and cheaper AI development could benefit the industry.
Dr Janak Gunatilleke, the Director for healthcare data and analytics at KPMG UK, called DeepSeek R1 “pretty impressive.” “Open LLMs offer an opportunity for more transparency and opportunity to refine/improve in a sustainable manner. Both these elements are critical in healthcare,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
UAE-based Dr Rohit Jan, who is Head, Strategy & Transformation, GCC at Aster DM Healthcare, called DeepSeek “The Next Evolution in Search Technology.”
"You’re not just receiving results — you’re receiving the right results. In today’s data-driven world, the quality of information matters more than quantity,” he said while adding that the tool would have applications across industries, including healthcare.
This story is done in collaboration with First Check, which is the health journalism vertical of DataLEADS.
