Distilled R1 models can now run locally on Copilot Plus PCs, starting with Qualcomm Snapdragon X first and Intel chips later. This brings a lot more AI capabilities to Windows, and it’s something Microsoft was already working on with its Phi Silica language models.

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella had some kind words for DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that roiled his company’s shares earlier this week.

DeepSeek is the biggest story in AI since ChatGPT hit the market. It showed up out of the blue and beat out the best AI models on the market at a fraction of the cost. However, it’s mostly known for the controversies that are piling on.

Microsoft 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.

Microsoft has moved surprisingly quickly to bring R1 to its Azure customers.

By Aditya Soni and Deborah Mary Sophia (Reuters) -Days after Chinese upstart DeepSeek revealed a breakthrough in cheap AI computing that shook the U.S. technology industry, the chief executives of Microsoft and Meta defended massive spending that they said was key to staying competitive in the new field.

In an apparent response to the attention on a new AI model out of China, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted online

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's model led to increased scrutiny on Microsoft's AI spending.