DeepSeek Targets End of 2025 for AI Agent to Rival U.S. Tech Giants

Chinese startup DeepSeek is planning to release a new AI agent before the end of 2025. Bloomberg reports that the system will handle complex tasks step by step, with little input from people. It will also learn from past work, improving as it goes.

DeepSeek became known worldwide earlier in 2025 when it released its first big model, R1. The project cost only $6 million to build, far less than models from OpenAI or Google. Despite the lower budget, R1 showed strong reasoning skills.

The company also made R1 open source. Developers around the world could study the code and build on top of it. That choice disrupted the belief in Silicon Valley that success only comes from bigger models and massive spending.

After R1, DeepSeek slowed down. Founder Liang Wenfeng pushed back the release of R2. He wanted more time for technical improvements while also focusing on his role at High-Flyer Asset Management. This careful pace is different from rivals such as Alibaba and Tencent, which are pushing new AI tools quickly.

In August, DeepSeek released V3.1. The update expanded the context window to 128,000 tokens and raised the parameter count to 685 billion. Another key change was content labels. Every output now includes a mark showing it was AI-generated, and users cannot switch this off. This policy highlights the company’s focus on openness.

The next step is the R2 agent model. Unlike chatbots that only reply with text, agents are built to do things. They can plan trips, debug code, or handle office tasks with little human help. Analysts see this as a major shift — moving from simple responses to full workflows.

DeepSeek will not be alone. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic have already rolled out early versions of agents. DeepSeek hopes its launch will meet, or even beat, these rivals.

Pricing and full details are still unknown. But experts expect the launch to be watched closely in both Silicon Valley and Washington, where DeepSeek’s rapid rise is already drawing attention.