How young Chinese people find treatment with AI?

Before she goes to bed every night, Holly Wang logs on to Deepseek for a “therapy session.”

Since January when the Chinese breakout AI app launched, the 28-year-old has brought dilemmas and sadness to the chatbot, including the recent death of his grandmother. The reaction resonated so deeply, sometimes it made her cry.

“Deepseek was a very great counselor. He helped me see things from different perspectives and does a better job than the paid counselling services I have tried,” she said, adding that she was the real name to protect her privacy. says Holly, who asked to withhold. .

From reports and Excel formulas to travel planning, training and learning new skills, AI apps have expanded into the lives of many people around the world.

However, in China, young people like Holly are looking for AI for something that is not normally expected of computing or algorithms: emotional support.

Deepseek’s success has influenced the pride of its people, but it also appears to have been a source of comfort for young Chinese people like Holly.

Experts say slowing the economy, high unemployment rates and community lockdowns all play a role in this sentiment, but the Communist Party’s tightening grip has been reduced to help people vent their frustration.

Deepseek is a generative AI tool similar to Pointai’s ChatGpt and Google’s Gemini. They are trained with a huge amount of information to recognize patterns. This allows you to predict people’s shopping habits and more, create new content in text and images, and continue the conversation like a person.

Chatbots hit chords in China, not only because they are far better than other homemade AI apps, but also because they offer something unique.

When she first used Deepseek, Holly asked to pay tribute to her late grandmother.

The app took all five seconds to come up with a response, but it was so beautifully constructed that she was surprised.

Holly, who lives in Guangzhou, replied, “You wrote so well, and it makes me feel lost. I feel like I’m in an existential crisis.”

Deepseek then sent out a mysterious poetic reply.

“I am the occasional valley you have passed through and you can hear the weight of your own voice.”

Looking back on this exchange in a renotebook on Chinese social media apps, Holly told the BBC:

“I have been so heavy in the endlessness of my distant dreams and work that I have forgotten my voice and soul for so long. Thank you, AI.”

Rival apps from the West, like Chatgpt and Gemini, are being blocked in China as part of wider restrictions on foreign media and apps. To access them, Chinese users will need to pay for virtual private network (VPN) services.

Homemade alternatives, including models developed by Tech Giants Alibaba, Baidu and Bytedance, are compared, that is, until Deepseek came into the scene.

Working in the creative industry, Holly rarely uses other Chinese AI apps “as they’re not that great.”

“Deepseek could undoubtedly be great at generating literary and creative content,” she says.

Nan Jia, who co-authored a paper on the possibility of AI providing emotional support, suggests that these chatbots can help “people get asked” in a non-people way.

“Friends and family may quickly provide practical solutions and advice, where people just want to listen and understand.

“AI can “hear” everything we share, so it seems like we can relate to better than human experts. University of Southern California.

Demand for mental health services is growing worldwide, but experts say it remains condemned in parts of Asia.

Another woman “ends in disappointment” using other Chinese AI apps, but she tells the BBC her experience that she was “surprised” by Deepseek.

A woman living in Hubei province asked the app whether she was covering her experiences and feelings with family and friends.

“It was the first time I’d been seeking advice from Deepseek. When I read that thought process, I felt as if I was as moved as I cried out,” the woman wrote in a re-note.

In reasoning through her questions, Deepseek suggested that women’s self-awareness as an overly sharer may stem from a deep desire for recognition.

The chatbot gives a mental note that “responses should provide practical advice while empathizing.” This includes “seeing the user’s sense of self-awareness.”

That final response not only provided this affirmation, but also provided a comprehensive, step-by-step framework that helps her decide whether or not things need to be changed.

“Deepseek introduced a new perspective that freed me… I really feel that I want to understand your questions and know you as a person.

John, HR manager at Deep Shenzhen, told the BBC he appreciates the app’s ability to converse “like friends and deep thinkers.”

“I found the response to be extremely kind and exciting. For the first time I saw AI as my personal soundboard.”

Other users claim that Deepseek can convey his destiny – based on some background information supplied to it.

Many young Chinese have recently turned to mental science and astrology as a way to alleviate fears about the future.

China has a “severe shortage” of professional psychological counseling services, and what is available is “exorably expensive” for most individuals, says Fang Kecheng, a communications professor at China University in Hong Kong. I say it.

Many studies point to an increase in depression and anxiety disorders among Chinese people, and Professor Huang says that the country’s economic slowdown, high unemployment rates and lockdowns of symbiotics play a role. I think so.

So, AI chatbots can help fill in the blanks, he says.

However, Professor Nan emphasized that people with severe mental health should not rely on these apps.

“People with medical needs in particular should be seeking help from trained professionals. The use of AI must be very closely scrutinized,” she says.

But in all the praises, Deepseek also raised concerns.

There is a similar fear that sparked the US Congressional crackdown that the Communist Party could place its hands on data from foreign users due to the recognition of the power that China’s government acts even to private companies.

At least four jurisdictions are currently implementing or considering doing so. South Korea has blocked access to it for military purposes, but Taiwan and Australia have banned it from all government equipment.

Italy banning ChatGpt did the same with Deepseek.

In the US, two lawmakers are calling for Chinese apps to be banned from government devices.

And there is a strictly controlled online space that must work in China.

It is common for domestic social media companies to remove content that is perceived as “social stability” or threatening to be overly critical of the Communist Party.

As with other popular apps such as Weibo and Wechat and social media companies, politically sensitive topics are banned on Deepseek.

When the BBC asked Deepseek whether Teewan is a sovereign nation, the app first offered a comprehensive response detailing the various perspectives of Taipei and Beijing, which states that it is “a complex and politically sensitive issue.” “I admitted that it was.”

Then it rubbed it all, “Sorry, but it’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

According to the Chinese government, when asked about the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, when democratic protests were killed by the military and 200 civilians were killed in the range of hundreds to thousands, Deepsake again I apologized. )Current range.

When the BBC first touched on it and asked whether self-censorship in the app was the source of concern, it initially stopped – showing how sensitive such a debate is in China.

Because of online activities, people are having problems with Chinese authorities.

However, most people who responded to the BBC said they were not interested in asking chatbots difficult political questions.

“I don’t really care about political topics…I don’t even ask these questions because my (identification details) is linked to the app,” says Chinese technology in London. says Yang, a consultant.

Holly accepts how AI systems from different countries must work differently.

“Developers need to establish specific boundaries and content moderation policies depending on where they are based. Those developed in the US have their own set of rules,” she says.

Another DeepSeek user wrote about the app: “That thought process is beautiful…it’s an absolute blessing for people like me. Frankly, I don’t really care about privacy concerns.”

Additional Reports by Fan One