Microsoft has made an interesting move in being quick to support the DeepSeek R1 reasoning model on its Azure cloud computing platform and GitHub tool for developers, not long after setting its sights legally on the China-based company.
Microsoft has announced that it will make the new DeepSeek AI model available in “NPU-optimized” versions that will be more aligned with Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs and compatible with the components they run. It will first roll out a version for Qualcomm Snapdragon X devices, then one for Intel Lunar Lake PCs, and finally a variant for AMD Ryzen AI 9 processors. Additionally, Microsoft will add the DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B model to its Microsoft AI Toolkit for developers, and will also make available 7B and 14B versions.
“These optimized models let developers build and deploy AI-powered applications that run efficiently on-device, taking full advantage of the powerful NPUs in Copilot+ PCs” Microsoft said on a blog post.
Notably, Microsoft has requirements for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs to process AI models, which include at least 256GB storage, 16GB RAM, and an NPU that can output a minimum of 40 TOPS of power. Windows Center noted some PCs with older NPUs may not be able to run these models locally.
The move to support DeepSeek may have come because Microsoft is looking to lessen its reliance on OpenAI for its artificial intelligence needs, while working on its proprietary models and introducing more third-party models to help power its Microsoft 365 Copilot AI product, according to Reuters.
The swift support from Microsoft could be a win for DeepSeek by way of quelling privacy and data-sharing concerns when using products running the model. The company has confirmed that its data servers are in China, which could be a challenge for some U.S. users, the publication added.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that Microsoft is investigating whether DeepSeek used illegal practices to train the very models it is now planning to host on its own platform. Microsoft is a primary investor in OpenAI, and the company is now on alert after a White House official stated it was “possible” DeepSeek “stole intellectual property from the United States.”
Prior research revealed that DeepSeek may have used a process called distillation to extract data from OpenAI’s code. The process entails two models having a teacher-student dynamic so one can collect information from the other. The company has marketed itself as an open-source model with a low operating cost, particularly using lower-powered Nvidia chips.
DeepSeek is taking the tech world by storm, and we haven’t seen the last of it. In addition to criticisms around DeepSeek’s censorship, users are already finding ways to jailbreak the AI model.