Beijing: China’s fast growing artificial intelligence chatbot DeepSeek faced its longest service outage on Monday, raising concerns about reliability as competition in the AI sector intensifies.
The disruption lasted for more than seven hours, beginning in the early hours of the day and affecting users across China and beyond. Services were gradually restored later in the morning, but some users continued to report slow responses and access problems.
The company did not give an official reason for the outage. However, experts believe the issue may be linked to server problems, software bugs or pressure on systems due to heavy usage.
This is the most serious disruption since the chatbot gained global attention in early 2025 for its low cost and high performance. Until now, its web services had not faced such a long interruption.
User reports showed a sharp rise in complaints during the outage, with many saying they could not log in or receive responses. Some developers also experienced issues with related services, suggesting a broader system problem.
The incident comes at a time when expectations are high for DeepSeek’s next developments, as it continues to compete with major global AI companies. The outage highlights the growing challenge for AI platforms to maintain stable services while handling rising demand.
Even though services have been restored, the incident has raised questions about infrastructure readiness as the company expands its reach in the global AI market.