The Chinese software company said it will be open-sourcing five code repositories for its machine-learning software next week, with DeepSeek hoping for “pure garage-energy and community-driven innovation”.

In a post to X (previously Twitter), the company wrote: “We're a tiny team @deepseek_ai exploring AGI. Starting next week, we'll be open-sourcing 5 repos, sharing our small but sincere progress with full transparency.

“These humble building blocks in our online service have been documented, deployed and battle-tested in production.

“As part of the open-source community, we believe that every line shared becomes collective momentum that accelerates the journey.

“Daily unlocks are coming soon. No ivory towers - just pure garage-energy and community-driven innovation.”

DeepSeek took the AI industry by storm when it launched last month and sent stock in US tech companies crashing down, as the Chinese software was seemingly as capable as other major American AI models like ChatGPT while costing a fraction of the price.

However, DeepSeek has found itself in controversy in recent weeks, with the app being banned in South Korea last Saturday (15.02.25) and the country’s officials accusing the software of sending user data to TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance.

The South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency: “We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance.”

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) added that while a link between DeepSeek and ByteDance had been discovered, the organisation was “yet to confirm what data was transferred and to what extent”.