Multiple employees at DeepSeek, the Chinese AI chatbot company that triggered a massive selloff in US tech stocks last month, reportedly previously worked at Microsoft’s controversial artificial intelligence labs in China. According to a report in the New York Post, at least four current DeepSeek employees, including a key department chief, honed their skills at Microsoft Research Asia. The report cites public profiles on GitHub and LinkedIn.
Microsoft Research Asia, comprising labs in Beijing and Shanghai, has faced increasing political pressure in Washington, with executives reportedly debating the future of the facilities. Among the DeepSeek employees with Microsoft ties is a researcher who spent six years as a research intern in the lab’s “natural language computing group.” This researcher, along with others, is reported to be listed as a “core contributor” to the research paper detailing DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model, the technology that fueled last month’s market upheaval.
Microsoft on China AI Lab's DeepSeek connection
While Microsoft confirmed the connections, it downplayed the significance of the training, stating, “Anyone who thinks that a handful of former Microsoft interns were the secret of DeepSeek’s recent success doesn’t understand what DeepSeek has accomplished.” The company added that it requires confidentiality and IP transfer agreements from its China-based employees and interns.
However, the long tenures of some of these internships – three of the four employees spent at least five years in the program – have raised eyebrows. “If you’re working for Microsoft for five years at any other job, that’s enough time to climb into a mid-senior or senior position,” told Geoffrey Cain, policy director at the Tech Integrity Project, told the New York Post.