China now connects everything to DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence ( AI ) model that developed last month and gained notoriety, from chatbots and smart vehicles to government departments and schools.
Baidu, a Chinese search engine, announced that its robot Ernie Bot 4.9 type now integrates with DeepSeek-R1 to strengthen students ‘ problem-solving capacity. Students can upload a photo of a problem to the robot, which will respond with a detailed explanation.  ,
The business added that from April, it will charge high-end customers just for some custom-made services and will allow specific users and SMEs to use Ernie’s simple functions for free.
According to some Chinese media reports, Baidu could get more information by giving up its closed-source type and connecting with other AI models, but doing so would also need it to rely on external systems and risk losing its profitability over the long run.  ,
Google announced on February 16 that Weixin messaging software users can now search using DeepSeek. Tencent is reportedly considering integrating various items with DeepSeek, according to a company spokesman.
Earlier this month, the Shenzhen-based Huawei said its Huawei Cloud has connected with DeepSeek-R1. Chinese manufacturers BYD and Geely added that DeepSeek-R1 is compatible with their electric vehicles.
Gong Zheng, an engineer at the Institute of Technology and Standards, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ( MIIT ), said that the technical advantages of leading IT companies “open the door to free AI services.”  ,
Clean basic AI companies may turn into a data-sourcing route for businesses. These companies may form a ‘ finished company loop’ and provide value-added services and enterprise-level solutions”, he said, adding that China wants to develop the industry standards for the next generation of human-computer interaction technology.  ,
A company employs a closed business loop, which actively collects customer feedback and analyzes it to improve its goods and services.
Despite many nations forbid their students from using AI tools to do their homework, many states, including Xinhua, promoted the benefits of allowing primary and secondary school students to use DeepSeek on Tuesday.  ,
Xi’s call
At a symposium in Beijing on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and corporate leaders met to discuss the rise of DeepSeek and related applications.
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’s time for entrepreneurs and private companies to showcase 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 claimed that the central government values technological innovation based on DeepSeek and Unitree executives ‘ appearances at Xi’s symposium.
Before this, Chinese Premier Li Qiang had met some entrepreneurs, including Unitree’s Wang, at a symposium in Hangzhou on December 20, 2024. At China Central TV’s Spring Festival Gala on January 28, Unitree received applause for its dancing robots.  ,
Li had also met other industrial experts, including DeepSeek’s Liang, at a symposium in Beijing on January 20, 2025.
The same day that DeepSeek launched DeepSeek-R1, which had surpassed ChatGPT to surpass it in popularity. 1 on the US free app download charts in a few days. Given that DeepSeek had developed its AI model at very low costs, US stocks significantly decreased on January 27 as investors worried that Nvidia and OpenAI might be overvalued.
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
China’s State Council made its New Generation AI Development Plan public in July 2017 and pledged to make China a major AI innovation hub and a global 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.  ,
Vice Premier Liu He at the time said that China should promote its semiconductor industry using a “whole nation” approach, allowing the government to use the resources of the country’s research institutions and businesses to fund technological advancements.
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.  ,
More and more government departments will try to integrate with AI tools, according to Hu Guoqing, head of the 6G and AI artificial intelligence research group and associate researcher at Peking University’s Shenzhen Research Institute.
Yong Jian contributes to the Asia Times. He is a Chinese journalist who specialises in Chinese technology, economy, and politics.  ,