How DeepSeek and next-generation AI agents could erode value of language models

Large language models like those developed by Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI are set to become commoditized this year amid rapid advances toward next-generation artificial intelligence agents and more nimble, open-source rivals, according to top tech executives.

Last week, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released R1, an open-source reasoning model that claims to rival OpenAI’s o1 model on both cost and performance. Open-source refers to software whose source…