Hey there, tech lovers! Today, let’s dive into some exciting AI news that even your grandma would find fascinating.

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI research lab, has introduced a smaller, “distilled” version of its powerful R1 reasoning AI model, called DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B. This tiny titan beats other models of similar size on key benchmarks, making AI more accessible than ever.

Built using Alibaba’s Qwen3-8B foundation, this compact model outperforms Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash on tough math questions from AIME 2025 and nearly rivals Microsoft’s Phi 4 in math tests like HMMT. While it might not match the full-sized R1’s capabilities, it’s a steal because it requires way less computing power.

You only need a GPU with 40GB-80GB RAM, like an Nvidia H100, to run Qwen3-8B. Meanwhile, the larger R1 requires about a dozen high-end GPUs. DeepSeek trained their smaller model by refining it with text generated from the full R1, aiming for both research and industrial use, especially where resources are limited.

This model is open-source under an MIT license, so you can use it without restrictions and even incorporate it into commercial projects. Major platforms, such as LM Studio, now offer API access, making it easier for developers to experiment and innovate.