DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that’s been turning heads lately, has hit a snag. The startup announced it’s temporarily stopping new user signups after experiencing a cyber incident. Don’t worry—existing users can still access their accounts without any trouble.

This comes just days after DeepSeek made a big splash in the AI scene. The company released its open-source R1 model, which reportedly outperforms OpenAI’s o1 on several benchmarks. Adding to the buzz, DeepSeek also rolled out a new family of image models this week.

The startup’s app saw an impressive 2.6 million downloads by Sunday, with a whopping 1 million of those coming in just one day—last Friday. The rapid growth has undoubtedly put DeepSeek in the spotlight, making this cyber incident a significant hiccup.

For now, it’s unclear how long the pause on new signups will last or what steps DeepSeek is taking to address the issue. We’ll keep an eye out for updates as more details emerge.

Stay tuned—this story’s far from over!