The artificial intelligence landscape is buzzing with excitement. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has just rolled out a significant update to its popular open-source reasoning model, R1. The new version, DeepSeek R1-0528, brings a wave of improvements that position it as a formidable competitor to proprietary giants like OpenAI’s o3 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro. This update is not just a minor tweak; it’s a leap forward in AI reasoning and accessibility.
For developers, researchers, and businesses, the DeepSeek R1-0528 model offers enhanced capabilities, especially in complex problem-solving, all while maintaining its commitment to open-source principles. Let’s dive into what makes this update a game-changer.
Here are four key points from the article:
- The DeepSeek R1-0528 update significantly enhances AI reasoning and inference, positioning it as a strong open-source competitor to proprietary models like OpenAI’s o3 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro.
- This new version demonstrates impressive benchmark improvements, especially in mathematics with AIME 2025 accuracy rising to 87.5%, and in coding with LiveCodeBench pass@1 scores up to 73.3%.
- DeepSeek also released DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B, a distilled model that achieves state-of-the-art performance for smaller-scale applications, matching larger models on specific tasks.
- Key usability enhancements in R1-0528 include reduced hallucination rates, support for JSON output and function calling, and the removal of the mandatory “thinking” token, all under a permissive MIT license.
Table of contents
- What’s New with DeepSeek R1-0528?
- Enhanced Reasoning and Stellar Benchmark Performance
- DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B: Distilled Power for Smaller Setups
- How to Access and Use DeepSeek R1-0528
- Developer Buzz: Initial Reactions to the Update
- The Bigger Picture: DeepSeek’s Impact on the AI Landscape
- Looking Ahead: What’s Next for DeepSeek?
What’s New with DeepSeek R1-0528?
The latest iteration, DeepSeek-R1-0528, focuses heavily on bolstering the model’s depth of reasoning and inference capabilities. This has been achieved by allocating increased computational resources and introducing sophisticated algorithmic optimization mechanisms during its post-training phase. The result? A model that excels in mathematics, programming, and general logic, bringing its overall performance remarkably close to leading proprietary models.
Compared to its predecessor, the upgraded model demonstrates substantial gains in handling intricate reasoning tasks. This upgrade is designed to deliver stronger performance on complex reasoning tasks across various domains including math, science, business, and programming, alongside enhanced features for both developers and researchers.
Enhanced Reasoning and Stellar Benchmark Performance
At the heart of the DeepSeek R1-0528 update lies a dramatic improvement in the model’s ability to tackle challenging reasoning tasks. DeepSeek has highlighted that these advancements are a direct result of leveraging increased computational power and fine-tuning algorithms post-training.

Superior Reasoning Capabilities
One of the most striking improvements is in mathematical reasoning. For instance, in the AIME 2025 test, the model’s accuracy surged from 70% in the previous version to an impressive 87.5% in the current version. This significant jump is attributed to an enhanced thinking depth. During the AIME test set, the previous model utilized an average of 12,000 tokens per question, whereas the new DeepSeek R1-0528 now averages 23,000 tokens per question. This demonstrates a more thorough and nuanced approach to problem-solving.

Impressive Benchmark Performance Across Categories
The DeepSeek R1-0528 model has shown outstanding results across a wide array of benchmark evaluations. For all evaluations, the maximum generation length is set to 64K tokens. For benchmarks requiring sampling, a temperature of 0.6, a top-p value of 0.95, and 16 responses per query are used to estimate pass@1.
Here’s a glimpse of its performance:
- General Knowledge:
- MMLU-Redux (EM): Improved from 92.9 to 93.4
- MMLU-Pro (EM): Increased from 84.0 to 85.0
- GPQA-Diamond (Pass@1): Jumped significantly from 71.5 to 81.0
- Humanity’s Last Exam (Pass@1): More than doubled, from 8.5 to 17.7
(Note: SimpleQA (Correct) saw a slight dip from 30.1 to 27.8, while FRAMES (Acc.) marginally improved from 82.5 to 83.0.)
- Coding Prowess:
- LiveCodeBench (2408-2505) (Pass@1): Rose from 63.5 to 73.3
- Codeforces-Div1 (Rating): Climbed from 1530 to 1930
- SWE Verified (Resolved): Up from 49.2 to 57.6 (using Agentless framework)
- Aider-Polyglot (Acc.): Showed a substantial increase from 53.3 to 71.6
- Mathematical Acumen:
- AIME 2024 (Pass@1): Advanced from 79.8 to 91.4
- AIME 2025 (Pass@1): As mentioned, from 70.0 to 87.5
- HMMT 2025 (Pass@1): A remarkable leap from 41.7 to 79.4
- CNMO 2024 (Pass@1): Improved from 78.8 to 86.9
- Tool Utilization:
- BFCL_v3_MultiTurn (Acc): Scored 37.0 (newly reported)
- Tau-Bench (Pass@1): Achieved 53.5 (Airline) / 63.9 (Retail) (newly reported, with GPT-4.1 acting as the user role)
These figures clearly indicate that DeepSeek R1-0528 is pushing the boundaries of AI performance, particularly in reasoning-intensive tasks.
Reduced Hallucinations and Enhanced User Experience
Beyond raw performance, this version brings crucial improvements to the user experience. The model now boasts a reduced hallucination rate, meaning it’s less likely to generate false or misleading information – a critical factor for reliability. In scenarios like rewriting and summarizing, the rate of “hallucinations” has been reduced by approximately 45-50%.
Furthermore, it offers enhanced support for function calling and a better experience for “vibe coding,” making it more versatile for developers. Support for JSON output has also been added, streamlining integration into various applications and workflows. Front-end capabilities have been refined, promising a smoother interaction.
One significant usability update is the introduction of system prompts. Previously, users had to add a special “<think>\n” token at the beginning of the output to encourage the model’s thinking pattern. This requirement has now been removed, simplifying deployment.
DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B: Distilled Power for Smaller Setups
Recognizing the need for high-performance models that can run on more modest hardware, DeepSeek has also introduced DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B. This model was created by distilling the chain-of-thought processes from the powerful DeepSeek-R1-0528 and using them to post-train the Qwen3 8B Base model.
The result is a smaller model that achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance among open-source models of similar size. For instance, on the AIME 2024 benchmark, it scores an impressive 86.0%, surpassing the original Qwen3-8B by +10.0% and matching the performance of the much larger Qwen3-235B-thinking model.
Here’s how DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B stacks up against other models:
| Model | AIME 24 | AIME 25 | HMMT Feb 25 | GPQA Diamond | LiveCodeBench (2408-2505) |
| Qwen3-235B-A22B | 85.7 | 81.5 | 62.5 | 71.1 | 66.5 |
| Qwen3-32B | 81.4 | 72.9 | – | 68.4 | – |
| Qwen3-8B | 76.0 | 67.3 | – | 62.0 | – |
| Phi-4-Reasoning-Plus-14B | 81.3 | 78.0 | 53.6 | 69.3 | – |
| Gemini-2.5-Flash-Thinking-0520 | 82.3 | 72.0 | 64.2 | 82.8 | 62.3 |
| o3-mini (medium) | 79.6 | 76.7 | 53.3 | 76.8 | 65.9 |
| DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B | 86.0 | 76.3 | 61.5 | 61.1 | 60.5 |
DeepSeek believes this distilled model will be highly valuable for academic research on reasoning models and for industrial applications focusing on smaller-scale, efficient AI solutions. For context, running an 8-billion-parameter LLM in half-precision (FP16) typically requires around 16 GB of GPU memory, making it accessible on high-end consumer GPUs like the NVIDIA RTX 3090 or 4090.
How to Access and Use DeepSeek R1-0528
DeepSeek ensures that its cutting-edge technology is accessible.
Chat Website & API Platform
You can interact directly with DeepSeek R1 on DeepSeek’s official website: chat.deepseek.com. Remember to switch on the “DeepThink” button to experience the enhanced reasoning capabilities.
For developers, DeepSeek provides an OpenAI-Compatible API via the DeepSeek Platform: platform.deepseek.com. Existing API users will automatically benefit from the R1-0528 update at no additional cost. The current API pricing is competitive, furthering its accessibility.
Running Locally
For those who prefer to run the model locally, detailed instructions and resources are available on the DeepSeek-R1 repository on GitHub. Like its predecessor, DeepSeek-R1-0528 is available under the permissive MIT License, allowing for commercial use and customization. Open-source model weights can be found on Hugging Face.
Key changes for local usage compared to previous versions include:
- System prompts are now supported.
- It’s no longer required to add “<think>\n” at the start of the output.
The model architecture of DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B is identical to Qwen3-8B but uses the same tokenizer configuration as DeepSeek-R1-0528. It can be run similarly to Qwen3-8B.
System Prompt and Temperature
In DeepSeek’s official web/app environments, a system prompt including the current date is used. For example:
该助手为DeepSeek-R1,由深度求索公司创造。
今天是2025年5月28日,星期一。
The temperature parameter (𝑇𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙Tmodel) is typically set to 0.6 in their web and application environments.
Prompts for File Uploading and Web Search
DeepSeek provides specific prompt templates for tasks like file uploading and web search, with placeholders for file names, content, questions, and search results. These templates are available for both Chinese and English queries, guiding the model to structure its responses effectively, cite sources, and tailor content to the user’s needs, whether for objective Q&A or creative tasks.
Developer Buzz: Initial Reactions to the Update
The AI community, especially developers and influencers, has reacted positively to the DeepSeek R1-0528 update.
One user at praised the model’s coding abilities, stating it “is just incredible at coding.” He shared an experience where it generated clean code and working tests for a word scoring system challenge, both functioning perfectly on the first attempt – a feat he noted only OpenAI’s o3 had previously achieved for him.
Lisan al Gaib posted on X that “DeepSeek is aiming for the king: o3 and Gemini 2.5 Pro,” reflecting a growing consensus that this update significantly narrows the gap with top-tier proprietary models.
Another AI news influencer, Chubby, commented, “DeepSeek was cooking!” and highlighted how the new version is nearly on par with its main competitors. Chubby even speculated that this R1 update might signal DeepSeek’s preparation for its anticipated “R2” frontier model.
The Bigger Picture: DeepSeek’s Impact on the AI Landscape
The release of DeepSeek R1-0528 is more than just a technical achievement; it’s a statement. It underscores DeepSeek’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of open-source AI, particularly in the critical area of reasoning. The January launch of the initial R1 model had already challenged the notion that cutting-edge AI requires vast, centralized computing power and investment, and this update reinforces that challenge.
DeepSeek’s success demonstrates that innovation can thrive in diverse environments, even amidst perceived limitations like U.S. export controls. By making powerful models available under permissive licenses, DeepSeek is democratizing access to advanced AI capabilities, fostering a more competitive and innovative global AI ecosystem.
Looking Ahead: What’s Next for DeepSeek?
With the DeepSeek R1-0528 update significantly improving performance and usability, the AI world watches keenly for DeepSeek’s next move. The strong performance of this “minor version upgrade” fuels speculation about the potential capabilities of a future R2 model.
For now, DeepSeek R1-0528 stands as a testament to the company’s dedication to high-performing, open-source AI. By combining measurable benchmark gains with practical features and a commitment to the community, this model is poised to become an invaluable tool for developers, researchers, and AI enthusiasts globally.
If you’re looking to harness the latest in language model capabilities, especially for tasks requiring deep reasoning, DeepSeek R1-0528 and its distilled variant offer compelling, accessible, and powerful options. We encourage you to explore the model via their website, API, or by running it locally.
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