DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 rivals Claude Opus 5 in benchmarks

DeepSeek released the open-source V4.1 Flash 1017 model on October 17, 2026, with text and image support and a large context window. It is priced up to 20 times lower than leading U.S. models, but DHS has banned DeepSeek in federal civilian systems over security concerns.

• Model launched October 17, 2026 under the MIT license
• Priced up to 20 times lower than leading U.S. models
• DHS banned DeepSeek in federal civilian systems
• Model trails flagships in reasoning reliability