'DeepSeek Moved Me To Tears'

 

Before she goes to bed each night, Holly Wang logs on to DeepSeek for "therapy sessions".

Ever since January, when the breakout Chinese AI app launched, the 28-year-old has brought her dilemmas and sorrows, including the recent death of her grandmother, to the chatbot. Its responses have resonated so deeply they have at times brought her to tears.

"DeepSeek has been such an amazing counsellor. It has helped me look at things from different perspectives and does a better job than the paid counselling services I have tried," says Holly, who asked for her real name to be withheld to protect her privacy.

From writing reports and Excel formulas to planning trips, workouts and learning new skills, AI apps have found their way into many people's lives across the world.

In China, though, young people like Holly have been looking to AI for something not typically expected of computing and algorithms - emotional support.

While the success of DeepSeek has inspired national pride, it also appears to have become a source of comfort for young Chinese like Holly, some of whom are increasingly disillusioned about their future.

Experts say the sluggish economy, high unemployment and Covid lockdowns have all played a role in this sentiment, while the Communist Party's tightening grip has also shrunk outlets for people to vent their frustrations.

DeepSeek is a generative AI tool - similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini - trained on massive amounts of information to recognise patterns. This allows it to predict things like people's shopping habits, create new content in text and images, and also carry on conversations like a person.

The chatbot has struck a chord in China partly because it is far better than other homegrown AI apps, but also because it offers something unique: its AI model, R1, lets users see its "thought process" before delivering a response.

DeepSeek, my friend

The first time she used DeepSeek, Holly asked it to write a tribute to her late grandmother.

The app took all of five seconds to come up with a response, and it was so beautifully composed, it stunned her.

Holly, who lives in Guangzhou, responded: "You write so well, it makes me feel lost. I feel I'm in an existential crisis."

DeepSeek then sent a cryptically poetic reply: "Remember that all these words that make you shiver merely echo those that have long existed in your soul.

"I am but the occasional valley you've passed through, that allows you to hear the weight of your own voice."

Reflecting on this exchange on Chinese social media app RedNote, Holly tells the BBC: "I don't know why I teared up reading this. Perhaps because it's been a long, long time since I received such comfort in real life.

"I have been so weighed down by distant dreams and the endlessness of work that I have long forgotten my own voice and soul. Thank you, AI."

Rival apps from the West like ChatGPT and Gemini are blocked in China as part of broader restrictions on foreign media and apps. To access them, users in China have to pay for Virtual Private Network (VPN) services.

Homegrown alternatives, including models developed by tech giants Alibaba, Baidu and ByteDance paled in comparison - that is, until DeepSeek came along.

Holly, who works in the creative industry, rarely uses the other Chinese AI apps, "as they are not that great".

"DeepSeek can definitely outperform these apps in generating literary and creative content," she says.

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Author: Kelly Ng, BBC