A frenzy over an artificial intelligence chatbot made by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek was upending stock markets Monday and fueling debates over the economic and geopolitical competition between the U.

It can also ask follow-up questions to further personalize the tasks it completes, such as login information for other websites. Users can take control of the screen at any time.

Having shattered assumptions in the tech sector and beyond about the cost of artificial intelligence, Chinese startup DeepSeek's new chatbot is now roiling another industry: energy companies.

After Silicon Valley stocks tumble and users flock to download the chatbot app, DeepSeek temporarily limits registration to those with a +86 mainland China phone number.

US chipmaker Nvidia led a rout in tech stocks after the emergence of a low-cost Chinese generative AI model that could threaten American dominance in the fast-growing industry. The chatbot developed by DeepSeek,

One of the biggest losers was Nvidia boss Jensen Huang (pictured) after shares in the computer chips maker suffered the biggest one-day drop in history.

The Chinese app has soared to the top of app store charts and claims to match ChatGPT’s performance in some tasks.

Generative AI has been touted for its potential to do the work of personal assistants, coders, radiologists and other jobs. Increasingly, it’s replacing other roles traditionally occupied by humans, like, say, a boyfriend or a best friend.

Conversational adaptability is one of its coolest features. Claude AI adjusts its tone and depth based on user queries. Its ability to ask clarifying questions and maintain context over extended exchanges makes it useful for both casual and complex conversations. That is one of the reasons why our editors named it CNET's best chatbot of 2024.