DeepSeek Made Crystal Clear · chapter 1: What DeepSeek Actually Is
DeepSeek's model family tree
2026-08-27
Older generations stay published even after V4 becomes the flagship pair.
Below: the paragraph from the book that builds this idea, then the diagram itself (Figure 1.1), and a recap. About a minute of reading.
Older generations have not disappeared. DeepSeek's own site keeps V3.2, V3.1, R1, and the original V3 listed and accessible through a research section, rather than pulling them the moment a new flagship ships. R1's distilled variants, smaller models trained to imitate R1's behavior on less hardware, remain published too, and Chapter 8 covers exactly what is on offer and what running one actually requires. The practical takeaway: if you see a tutorial calling an older model name, it probably still works, but it is not what you should build new work on.
Recap
- The idea: Older generations stay published even after V4 becomes the flagship pair.
- The picture: Figure 1.1, from chapter 1 ("What DeepSeek Actually Is") of DeepSeek Made Crystal Clear.
- Go deeper: the chapter builds this step by step, with recipes and sources at the end.
This diagram is one of many in DeepSeek Made Crystal Clear.
Every chapter opens with the gist, draws the hard ideas, and ends with recipes and sources.
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