UPDATE - China employs DeepSeek artificial intelligence in local governments, ports

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, NEW ZEALAND’S ADVISORY FOR ITS PARLIAMENTARIANS, REVISES HEADLINE

By Berk Kutay Gokmen and Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) — China asked local officials to use the DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to advise and assist in decision making, according to local media on Thursday.

The country's three major ports, including Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, have also implemented or are planning to adopt the AI tool for "greater efficiency and service quality," daily South China Morning Post reported.

Senior officials in several city governments issued instructions to their staff on how to utilize DeepSeek effectively in “decision-making, analysis and problem-solving."

In Zhengzhou, the capital of central province of Henan, local Communist Party chief An Wei asked city officials to employ AI models such as DeepSeek in governance, the report said.

The city’s local political research department also handed out training manual to its staff, noting that the AI could help as “an adviser and assistant to serve the scientific decision-making of the municipal party committee,” it added.

In the city of Laibin, located in the southern Guangxi region, officials asked their staff to “embrace and learn new technologies,” and make use of the AI, the daily also said.

This is the first instance in which officials have been asked to use a particular AI model, in this case DeepSeek, when making decisions, according to the report.

Notably, DeepSeek leader Liang Wenfeng was among the tech leaders and entrepreneurs who attended a symposium chaired by President Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing.

Xi urged the participants to give “full play” to their potential as the private sector has “bright prospects and vast potential."

The Chinese startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the AI industry last month with its cost-effective and free chatbot due to its rapid progress in rivaling the US-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT with far fewer resources.

DeepSeek gained unprecedented popularity in mobile app stores across the globe, dethroning ChatGPT in certain regions, including the US.

However, DeepSeek has been banned by South Korea, as well as for government officials in Australia, as Seoul claims it sent the nation’s user data to a third party.

Separately, South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok said on Thursday that Seoul will develop its own version of AI chatbot.

New Zealand has followed Seoul and Canberra, sending an advisory to all parliamentarians to stop the use of DeepSeek.

The lawmakers have also been barred from using WeChat, Red Note as well as CapCut from Monday, according to daily New Zealand Herald.