DeepSeek’s open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models are injecting fresh momentum into Chinese makers of smart glasses, as the technology enables developers to integrate more advanced capabilities into their products at a lower cost.
“DeepSeek’s low-cost, high-price-performance model has fundamentally reshaped the economics of AI deployment,” said Misa Zhu Mingming, founder and chief executive of Hangzhou-based Rokid, a start-up that makes AI-equipped augmented-reality (AR) glasses.
The price of adopting the reasoning model DeepSeek-R1, for example, “is far below that of [OpenAI’s] GPT-4o model”, Zhu told the South China Morning Post. He added that this would help companies in its field slash a considerable amount on research, development and operating expenses.
DeepSeek is reshaping the industry, according to Zhu. Combined with China’s advantages in hardware supply chain and optics, DeepSeek’s AI models offer a more flexible solution for the smart glasses sector, which can help expand the adoption of these products, he said.
That assessment reflects how DeepSeek, over the past few weeks, has become synonymous with China’s efforts to overcome tech bottlenecks, including US trade restrictions on key components such as advanced semiconductors.
