Following Longgang District in Shenzhen, Tianjin City Also Adopts DeepSeek
Increased Efficiency in the Public Sector... Local Businesses Benefit from Lower Costs
"WeChat," the "Chinese KakaoTalk," to Feature DeepSeek Integration
As countries around the world, including South Korea, move to sanction the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model 'DeepSeek,' it has been reported that Chinese local governments are rushing to adopt DeepSeek. WeChat (Weixin), often referred to as the 'Chinese version of KakaoTalk,' will also be equipped with DeepSeek.
According to the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 17th, Hebei District, a directly governed district of Tianjin City, a northern Chinese port city, recently announced the adoption of DeepSeek.
The 'Tianjin AI Computing Center,' established in 2023 through a collaboration between Hebei District and the Chinese tech giant Huawei, became the first facility to fully implement the DeepSeek model across Beijing and its surrounding areas by hosting this system. Through this center, not only local governments can utilize DeepSeek technology, but local businesses also benefit from cost savings.
A center official stated, "The open-source approach, which allows anyone to view and modify, makes DeepSeek more affordable and flexible for use in businesses and public services," adding, "The hardware investment cost required to train AI applications has been reduced by 50%, and the time required has been shortened by 30%." It is reported that a local medical technology company saved up to 1 million yuan (approximately 200 million KRW) by utilizing this system.
Prior to Tianjin, Longgang District in Shenzhen, known as China's 'Silicon Valley,' also adopted the DeepSeek model. According to a report from Longgang District published online, it previously took about 4 to 5 minutes to proofread 1,000 Chinese characters, but with DeepSeek, this was reduced to just a few seconds.
Beyond simple document tasks, DeepSeek is expected to contribute to various public sectors such as missing person searches and resident feedback analysis. SCMP noted that as DeepSeek is applied to the 'smart cities' of Chinese local governments, which have already utilized AI technologies like facial recognition, the scope of AI applications will be further enhanced.
Kunshan City in Jiangsu Province recently introduced the DeepSeek model into its e-government system. This allows relevant agencies such as the police and traffic authorities to use AI models tailored to local conditions. Another city in Jiangsu Province, Suqian, announced cooperation with JD Technology, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant JD.com, to enable the use of DeepSeek through a cloud platform.
Meanwhile, WeChat, often called the Chinese version of KakaoTalk, announced plans to integrate DeepSeek and utilize conversation data, with news of major Chinese IT companies adopting DeepSeek continuing to emerge.
On the other hand, on the same day, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission announced a temporary suspension of DeepSeek app services domestically amid controversies over excessive personal data collection, leading to restrictions on DeepSeek access in major sectors including government agencies worldwide. Nam Seok, head of the Investigation and Coordination Bureau at the Personal Information Protection Commission, explained at the Government Seoul Office on the morning of the 17th, "We have not confirmed any cases where DeepSeek voluntarily suspended services overseas," adding, "In Italy, authorities stopped it immediately after its release."
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