‘DeepSeek brought me to tears’: How young Chinese find therapy in AI

Before she goes to bed each day, Holly Wang logs on to DeepSeek for” treatment classes”.

Always since January, when the breakthrough Chinese AI software launched, the 28-year-old has brought her concerns and grief, including the current suicide of her aunt, to the robot. Its actions have a so strong resonance that they have occasionally brought her to weeping.

” DeepSeek has been such an amazing counsellor. Holly, who requested the confidentiality of her real title to defend her protection, says it has helped me see things from different angles and does a better job than the paid counseling service I have tried.

From reading reports and Excel calculations, to arranging trips, training and learning new skills, AI programs have found their way into many people’s lives across the world.

However, young people in China like Holly have been turning to AI for emotional support, something that is not normally expected of computers and techniques.

While DeepSeek’s victory has given people a sense of national pride, it also appears to have comforted youthful Chinese like Holly, some of whom are becoming more and more uncertain about their future.

According to experts, the weak economy, high employment, and Covid lockdowns all contributed to this attitude, while the Communist Party’s tightening influence has also caused more outlets for individuals 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 robot has won over Chinese users partly because it is far superior to other self-created AI apps, and also because it offers everything special: its AI design, R1, enables users to see its” thought process” before delivering a response.

The first time she used DeepSeek, Holly asked it to create a gift to her late aunt.

The software took all of five hours to come up with a reaction, and it was so wonderfully composed, it stunned her.

Holly, who lives in Guangzhou, responded:” You write but also, it makes me feel lost. I feel I’m in an philosophical issue”.

Therefore, according to DeepSeek, they wrote in a obliquely artistic response,” Remember that all these words that make you shudder only echo those that have longer 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.”

Holly tells the BBC,” I don’t know why I teared up reading this,”’ she says in response to this exchange on the Chinese social media app Red Note. Perhaps because it’s been a long, long time since I’ve found such comfort in real life.

I have long forgotten my own voice and soul because of how weighed down by distant dreams and the never-ending work I have been doing. Thank you, AI”.

As part of stricter restrictions on foreign media and apps, rival apps from the West, like ChatGPT and Gemini, are prohibited in China. 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”.

She claims that DeepSeek can unquestionably produce more literary and creative content than these apps.

Nan Jia, who co-authored a paper on AI’s potential for providing emotional support, suggests that these chatbots can “help people feel heard” in ways that other people might not.

When people just want to feel heard and understood, friends and family may be quick to offer helpful advice or solutions.

In contrast to humans, who we occasionally ask,” Are you actually hearing me?,” AI appears to be better able to empathise than human experts because they “hear” everything we share. Nan, a professor of business and management at the University of Southern California, continues.

Mental health services are increasingly popular around the world, but they still face stigma in some parts of Asia, according to experts.

Another woman tells the BBC that her experience with “other Chinese AI apps” ended in disappointment despite the fact that DeepSeek has surprised her.

The woman, who resides in Hubei province, had complained to the app about how much of her feelings and experiences were being shared with friends and family.

” It was my first time seeking counsel from DeepSeek. When I read its thought process, I felt so moved that I cried,” the woman wrote on Red Note.

In reasoning through her query, DeepSeek suggested that the woman’s self-perception as an over-sharer may stem from a deep desire for approval.

The chatbot notes that it should offer practical advice while being sympathetic while also giving itself a mental note. ” This could include” affirming the user’s sense of self-awareness”.

Its eventual response provided her with this affirmation as well as a detailed step-by-step framework to help her decide whether or not things need to be changed.

” DeepSeek has offered new perspectives that have freed me… I feel it really tries to understand your question and get to know you as a person, before responding,” she says.

John, a human resources manager in Shenzhen, told the BBC he appreciates the app’s ability to converse” like a friend or a deep thinker”.

” I’ve found its responses very helpful and inspiring. For the first time, I use AI as my personal sounding board.

Other users assert that Deepseek can tell their fortunes based on some insider information that has been provided to it.

Many young Chinese people have recently turned to astrology and psychics to try to overcome their apprehensions about the future.

According to Fang Kecheng, a communications professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, there is” a significant shortage” of professional psychological counseling services in China, and those services are frequently “expensive” for most people.

According to a number of studies, depression and anxiety disorders are becoming more prevalent in Chinese citizens, and Prof. Fang believes that the country’s economic slowdown, high unemployment, and Covid lockdowns have contributed to this trend.

AI chatbots therefore help to fill the void, he says.

However, Prof. Nan emphasized that those who have serious mental illnesses should avoid using these apps.

” Those who have medical needs, in particular, should be seeking help from trained professionals … Their use of AI will have to be scrutinised very closely,” she says.

But amid all the praise, Deepseek has also raised concerns.

There are concerns that the Communist Party might be able to smuggle information from foreign users because of the perception of power that China’s government has even over private companies.

At least four countries have now or are considering imposing restrictions on DeepSeek. Taiwan and Australia have banned it from all government devices, while South Korea has restricted access to it for military purposes.

Italy, which bans ChatGPT, has done the same with DeepSeek.

Two US lawmakers are asking for the Chinese app to be removed from government devices.

The tightly controlled online environment, where it has to operate, is another one.

Social media companies in the country frequently delete content that is deemed to be” threatening social stability” or excessively critical of the Communist Party.

As is the case with other popular apps and social media companies like Weibo or WeChat, politically-sensitive topics are banned on DeepSeek.

When the BBC inquired about Taiwan’s status as a sovereign nation, the app initially provides a comprehensive response enlightening Taipei’s and Beijing’s distinct viewpoints, acknowledging that this is a” complex and politically sensitive issue.”

Then it scrubs all that, and declares:” Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

When asked about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre when pro-democracy protests were crushed and 200 civilians killed by the military, according to the Chinese government- other estimates range from hundreds to many thousands- DeepSeek again apologised, saying the topic is” beyond]its ] current scope”.

When questioned about the app’s self-censorship, a number of the DeepSeek users the BBC was initially in contact with stopped responding when asked if they were concerned about it. This is an indication of how sensitive discussions can be in China.

People have got into trouble with authorities in China because of their online activities.

However, the majority of BBC respondents claimed they were hesitant to pose challenging political questions to the chatbot.

” I don’t really care about political topics … Neither will I ask these questions because my]identifying details ] are linked to the app,” says Yang, a Chinese tech consultant living in London.

Holly is open to the possibility that AI systems in various nations may have to operate in different ways.

” The developers will have to establish a number of boundaries and content moderation guidelines depending on their home base. She claims that US-developed products will have their own set of regulations.

Another DeepSeek user describes the app as” a true blessing to people like me.” Its thought process is beautiful. Frankly, I can’t care less about the privacy concerns.”

Fan Wang provided additional reporting.