Microsoft confirmed it will bring the DeepSeek R1 model to Azure cloud and GitHub in a move that it hopes will lessen its reliance on OpenAI's models.

Microsoft MSFT.O has made Chinese startup DeepSeek's R1 artificial intelligence model available on its Azure cloud computing platform and GitHub tool for developers, the U.S. company said on Wednesday. The AI model will be available in the model catalog on the platforms and will join more than 1,800 models that Microsoft is offering.

Despite the controversy surrounding the Chinese open-source model, it has received the blessing of US companies that say their versions of it are safer and feature less censorship.

The Chinese startup DeepSeek shook up the world of AI last week after showing its supercheap R1 model could compete directly with OpenAI’s o1. While it wiped nearly $600 billion off Nvidia’s market value,

Medium Microsoft said on Wednesday that the R1 artificial intelligence model from Chinese firm DeepSeek is now accessible