Since the Chinese AI startup launched its DeepSeek-R1 artificial intelligence model, it has become a global phenomenon.
Immediately, companies in nearly every industry in China raced to figure out how to incorporate DeepSeek's open-source model into their business strategies.
Many of them have found optimal applications for cheap AI models while increasing work efficiency. Others do this to boost advertising, as well as to show national pride.
DeepSeek is everywhere
In recent weeks, more than 20 Chinese automakers have said they are incorporating DeepSeek’s chatbots as virtual assistants in their cars, and about 30 medical and pharmaceutical companies have used DeepSeek in clinical diagnosis and research, among other applications.
Dozens of banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms across the country also revealed that DeepSeek is used to train customer service, design investment strategies and handle similar tasks.
This whole craze is similar to what happened in late 2022 when ChatGPT launched and created a wave of competition from American and European companies.
They scrambled to find ways to signal to customers and investors that the company was getting involved in Chat GPT, which at the time represented the most cutting-edge innovation in AI.
While major Chinese AI companies like Baidu and Alibaba have released a number of impressive AI models in the two years since, they have never attracted the same attention as DeepSeek.
The company stunned the world when it released an AI model built with far fewer computing resources than American tech giants.
On a Chinese online stock trading platform where retail investors can ask questions of public companies, there were nearly 5,000 recorded questions about DeepSeek.
The majority of these were asking specific companies whether they were considering or already using DeepSeek in their products. In response, hundreds of companies confirmed that they were integrating the technology, leading to a surge in their stock prices.
While some companies have said only that they are testing DeepSeek internally, their stock values have plummeted.
Beyond the automotive and banking and finance sectors, Chinese cloud computing companies have provided DeepSeek-R1 to customers, and many domestic AI chipmakers have optimized their products to run DeepSeek models.
In the entertainment space, a mobile shooter developed by Tencent is now using DeepSeek to train its in-game virtual assistant.
National nuclear power corporation CGN Power also announced the integration of DeepSeek into its AI system to help employees understand complex questions and solve them efficiently.
Local governments are also adopting DeepSeek at work. For example, officials in Shenzhen province have put DeepSeek-powered applications on the cloud for all government agencies across the city.
Or Hunan province uses DeepSeek to analyze real-time urban management data as part of its smart city program.
Thousands of government officials and employees across the country are also attending lectures given by professors or experts at state-owned companies explaining DeepSeek and how to use its technology.
Keeping up with the times despite sanctions
One reason DeepSeek has been so successful is that the company's open-source model comes at a time when Chinese companies are looking to transform their products with AI using affordable and easy-to-use tools.
“Many Chinese companies that are experimenting with deploying AI models for business operations are ready to release an open-source, low-cost deployment model,” AI researcher Paul Triolo, of consulting firm DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, wrote in a blog post.
“For example, as competition among electric vehicle manufacturers in China has intensified over the past few years, automakers have been forced to continuously develop new smart features that can wow customers, and DeepSeek is helping to make this happen.
This AI engine provides a better and faster interactive experience, while requiring low hardware costs,” explained analyst Lei Xing, who focuses on the China market.
This technology allows electric car companies to do things quickly like build advanced intelligent virtual assistants without having to pay the upfront investment in research and development.
It can be seen that integrating one of the most groundbreaking AI tools and the world's leading large language models (LLMs) is a great thing, bringing a lot of value to companies and users.
Another factor that has helped DeepSeek become particularly popular in China is that the warm reception of AI in the West has fueled its popularity in China, making it the company's best marketing tool, explains Angela Huyue Zhang, a law professor and technology policy researcher at the University of Southern California.
The story of how DeepSeek is challenging US dominance in AI is contributing to growing national pride in China.
A key part of this story is the development of resource-saving models, seen as a direct response to US policies aimed at cutting off China's access to advanced semiconductors.
DeepSeek's success has thus fueled growing confidence in China that such measures may ultimately fail.
DeepSeek makes the world realize that China can catch up with the times in the face of US chip sanctions, which is a boost to Chinese national pride.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/deepseek-bung-no-moi-ngoc-ngach-tai-trung-quoc-ai-noi-dia-len-ngoi-20250313130252220.htm
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