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DeepSeek releases R1 reasoning model with open weights under MIT licence
Chinese lab DeepSeek released DeepSeek-R1, a reasoning model trained largely with reinforcement learning that it said matches OpenAI o1 on maths, code and reasoning. Weights were published under the MIT licence alongside six smaller distilled models, and API output was priced at $2.19 per million tokens.
Why it matters
It showed that near-frontier reasoning could be reproduced cheaply and given away openly, resetting price expectations and sharpening US debate on export controls and open weights.
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Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentDeepSeek releases V4, a 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weights model with 1M context24 Apr 2026 · Model release · CNLed to: Successor to the R1-era open releases
What happened next
Later developments on the same thread
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Same story elsewhere
What other countries and bodies did on this
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- DevelopmentOpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra, first model it rates 'Critical' for cyber capability3 Sep 2026 · Model release · US
- DevelopmentUS export-control order forces global shutdown of Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 512 Jun 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US
- DevelopmentAnthropic withholds Claude Mythos Preview, gives it to defenders via Project Glasswing7 Apr 2026 · Model release · US
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