diff --git a/docetl/operations/utils/api.py b/docetl/operations/utils/api.py
index e3396a33..ccef74e5 100644
--- a/docetl/operations/utils/api.py
+++ b/docetl/operations/utils/api.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 
 def is_deepseek_r1(model: str) -> bool:
+    model = model.lower()
     return "deepseek-r1" in model or "deepseek-reasoner" in model