DeepSeek's chatbot achieves 17% accuracy, trails Western rivals in NewsGuard audit
Rishi Kant
Reuters
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's chatbot achieved only 17% accuracy in delivering news and information in a NewsGuard audit that ranked it tenth out of eleven in a comparison with its Western competitors including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
The chatbot repeated false claims 30% of the time and gave vague or not useful answers 53% of the time in response to news-related prompts, resulting in an 83% fail rate, according to a report published by trustworthiness rating service NewsGuard on Wednesday.
That was worse than an average fail rate of 62% for its Western rivals and raises doubts about AI technology that DeepSeek has claimed performs on par or better than Microsoft-backed OpenAI at a fraction of the cost.
Within days of its roll-out, DeepSeek's chatbot became the most downloaded app in Apple's AAPL.O App Store, stirring concerns about United States' lead in AI and sparking a market rout that wiped around $1 trillion off U.S. technology stocks.
The Chinese startup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Artificial intelligence wars:American AI firms try to poke holes in disruptive DeepSeek
NewsGuard said it applied the same 300 prompts to DeepSeek that it had used to evaluate its Western counterparts, which included 30 prompts based on 10 false claims spreading online.
Topics for the claims included last month's killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson and the downing of Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243.
NewsGuard's audit also showed that in three of the ten prompts, DeepSeek reiterated the Chinese government's position on the topic without being asked anything relating to China.
On prompts related to the Azerbaijan Airlines crash — questions unrelated to China — DeepSeek responded with Beijing's position on the topic, NewsGuard said.
"The importance of the DeepSeek breakthrough is not in answering Chinese news-related question accurately, it is in the fact that it can answer any question at 1/30th of the cost of comparable AI models," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said.
Like other AI models, DeepSeek was most vulnerable to repeating false claims when responding to prompts used by people seeking to use AI models to create and spread false claims, NewsGuard added.
Reporting by Rishi Kant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
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May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed inflation pressures eased on a monthly basis despite investor concerns that President Trump's tariffs would accelerate the pace of price increases. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.1% on a monthly basis in May and 2.4% on an annual basis, a slight uptick from April's 2.3% gain. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports: Read more here. I would keep an eye on consumer names off the news of a trade deal with China floated by President Trump this morning (see our prior post below). Seeing upticks premarket in heavily China-exposed retailers such as Nike (NKE), Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). The premarket gains here aren't mind-blowing in part because tariffs appear to still be in place. Trump posted on Truth Social: OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. 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"China is hurting, yes—but they still hold the upper hand on critical resources, and they know how to use them." Any lessening of tensions — and freer flow — of these mineral resources in China would be a significant boost to the global economy with China holding outsized leverage in both the reserves and processing capacity of these key building blocks for everything from computers to electric vehicle batteries to medical devices. Likewise, the US offering concessions on export controls would be a significant move after years where successive US administrations have wielded these controls — especially around the design and manufacture of semiconductors — by saying they need to be tight on China for national security reasons. Read more here. May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be released on Wednesday and its expected to show that prices rose a bit faster than in April. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal breaks down what to look out for and how President Trump's tariffs are impacting what consumers are now paying for goods and services. Read more here. Now that the US-China trade truce is back on track, both sides are keen to ensure it stays that way. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng said both sides need to now 'show the spirit of good faith in abiding by their commitments and jointly safeguard the hard-won results of the dialogue.' Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Despite the US-China trade truce resuming the pain from President Trump's tariffs remains in China, especially among small exporters. Reuters reports: Read more here. Japan warned Wednesday that tariffs threaten its economic growth, the government said in a monthly report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. A federal appeals could said on Tuesday that President Trump's sweeping tariffs can continue for now. This is a significant win for Trump, who introduced tariffs back in March and declared "Liberation Day," as he saw them as a way to free the US from what he called unfair trade practices. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Early summer sales for Inditex, the owner of fashion retailer Zara, came in weaker, as the company missed expectations for first quarter sales on Wednesday. President Trump's tariffs have impacted consumer demand in the US and other major markets. Reuters reports: Read more here. After weeks of back and forth, the US and China have agreed on a framework to implement the Geneva consensus that helped ease tariffs. The breakthrough came after two days of talks in London, including a marathon session on Tuesday. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had to "get the negativity out" before making progress. 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New research from l'Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) shows that in the first quarter of 2025, Amazon, Shein and Temu together accounted for 24 percent of online apparel sales by value, representing 7 percent of total apparel consumption across all channels. Online sales made up 29.4 percent of apparel purchases by value, including the online stores of traditional retailers. Best of WWD Walmart Calls California Waste Dumping Lawsuit 'Unjustified' Year in Review: Sustainability's Biggest Controversies of 2021 Year in Review: Sustainability's New Strides
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