The research paper DeepSeek in Healthcare: A Survey of Capabilities, Risks, and Clinical Applications of Open-Source Large Language Models examines how open-source AI models like DeepSeek are rapidly transforming healthcare by offering near state-of-the-art performance in clinical reasoning, medical documentation, and patient communication, at a fraction of the cost of proprietary systems. It highlights that while open models enable hospitals and research institutions to innovate faster and retain control over sensitive data, they also introduce new challenges around governance, accuracy, and patient safety. The authors propose a practical risk framework to help organizations evaluate when and how open AI can be safely deployed under regulations like HIPAA and the EU AI Act. For healthcare leaders, the key insight is open-source AI isn’t just cheaper, it’s the foundation for transparent, sovereign, and ethically governed medical intelligence.

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Key point: This paper shows that open-source AI models like DeepSeek are approaching clinical-grade performance, offering affordable and transparent alternatives to proprietary medical AI systems, but requiring strong governance to ensure patient safety and regulatory compliance.