China now connects everything – from chatbots and smart vehicles to government departments and schools – to DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that emerged and became famous last month.
Baidu, a Chinese search engine, announced that its chatbot Ernie Bot 4.9 version now integrates with DeepSeek-R1 to enhance students’ problem-solving capability. Students can take a picture of a question, and then the chatbot will answer it with detailed steps.
The company also said it will allow individual users and SMEs to use Ernie’s basic functions for free from April and will charge high-end customers only for some tailor-made services.
Some Chinese media said Baidu could obtain more data by giving up its closed-source model and connecting with other AI models, but such a move would also require it to rely on external platforms and cause it to lose competitiveness over the long run.
Tencent said on February 16 that users of its Weixin messaging app can now use DeepSeek for searches. A company spokesperson told the news media that Tencent is exploring integration of multiple products with DeepSeek.
Earlier this month, the Shenzhen-based Huawei said its Huawei Cloud has connected with DeepSeek-R1. Chinese automakers BYD and Geely also said their electric vehicles integrate with DeepSeek-R1.
“The technical advantages of leading IT companies pave the way for free AI services,” said Gong Zheng, an engineer at the Institute of Technology and Standards, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), which is a research institute under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
“Free basic AI services can become a channel for companies to source data. These companies can form a ‘closed business loop’ and offer value-added services and enterprise-level solutions,” he said, adding that China wants to formulate the industry standards for the next generation of human-computer interaction technology.
A “closed business loop” refers to a process in which a company actively collects customer feedback and analyzes it to improve its products and services.
On Tuesday state media, including Xinhua, promoted the benefits of allowing primary and secondary school students to use DeepSeek, even though many countries discourage their students from using AI tools to do homework.
Xi’s call
The rise of DeepSeek and related applications came as Chinese President Xi Jinping met corporate leaders at a symposium in Beijing on Monday.
These company heads included Huawei Technologies’ Ren Zhengfei, Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Tencent’s Pony Ma, DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng and Unitree’s Wang Xingxing.
“In this new era, the development prospects of the private sector are broad and promising,” Xi said in a speech. “It is time for private firms and entrepreneurs to show their talents.”
“It is hoped that private firms and entrepreneurs will have the ambition to serve the country, be dedicated to development, abide by the law and do business well, promote common prosperity, and make new and greater contributions to promoting Chinese-style modernization,” he said.
Xi added that some of the difficulties and challenges currently faced by the private sector generally arise during China’s industrial upgrade, but they are partial, temporary, and resolvable.
The People’s Daily said DeepSeek and Unitree executives’ appearances at Xi’s symposium demonstrated that the central government values technological innovation.
Before this, Chinese Premier Li Qiang had met some entrepreneurs, including Unitree’s Wang, at a symposium in Hangzhou on December 20, 2024. Unitree won applause with its dancing robots at China Central TV’s Spring Festival Gala on January 28.
Li had also met other industrial experts, including DeepSeek’s Liang, at a symposium in Beijing on January 20, 2025.
On that same day DeepSeek launched DeepSeek-R1, which had surpassed ChatGPT to become the No.1 on the free app download charts in the US within days. US stocks fell significantly on January 27 as investors were worried that Nvidia and OpenAI might be overvalued, in view of the fact DeepSeek had developed its AI model at very low costs.
The DeepSeek team claimed they used only 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips to train its AI model.
However, no one really knows how many chips DeepSeek has used, nor who ultimately controls this company and offers it unlimited financial resources.
The 2030 goal
In July 2017, China’s State Council unveiled its New Generation AI Development Plan and vowed to make the country become a major AI innovation hub and a world leader in AI technology by 2030.
In February 2023, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and State Council published the Overall Layout Plan for the Development of a Digital China, calling for the integration of the nation’s digital and real economies.
At that time, Vice Premier Liu He said China should boost its semiconductor sector with a “whole nation” approach, allowing the government to mobilize the resources of the nation’s research institutions and companies to achieve technological breakthroughs.
According to the plan, China will form a nationwide system by 2025 to achieve its “Digital China” goal.
The Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, and Hohhot city governments said their computing networks are connected to DeepSeek-R1.
In Shenzhen, the Futian district government said it created 70 AI “staff members” with DeepSeek to handle documents and assist its civil servants.
Hu Guoqing, head of the 6G and AI artificial intelligence research group and an associate researcher at Peking University’s Shenzhen Research Institute, said more and more government departments will try to integrate with AI tools.
Yong Jian is a contributor to the Asia Times. He is a Chinese journalist who specialises in Chinese technology, economy, and politics.
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