China embraces DeepSeek in public administration
Just one month after the launch of the new ‘made in China’ artificial intelligence prototype, municipalities and government officials are competing to adopt it in their offices. It is considered an important step forward in the realisation of so-called ‘smart cities’.
Milan (AsiaNews) - DeepSeek mania has already taken hold in China. About a month after its launch, the new prototype of artificial intelligence ‘made in China’ has already found wide application in many sectors of society. After being adopted by the giants of Chinese technology, including Tencent, ByteDance, Huawei and Alibaba, the revolutionary R1 model is also making inroads into local public administration.
As reported in a recent article in the South China Morning Post, for the first time the leaders of several Chinese municipalities have announced their decision to integrate this specific AI technology into government-run services to improve their efficiency.
Among these is An Wei, general secretary of the Communist Party of Zhengzhou, capital of Hunan, who urged government officials to ‘study and fully master [...] and make extensive use of artificial intelligence to support decision-making, analysis and problem solving’, in order to support the ‘transformation and development’ of the city.
Similarly, the authorities in Laibin (Guangxi) have invited their subordinates to ‘embrace and proactively learn new technologies’, while those in Foshan (Guangdong) agree that DeepSeek could ‘provide intelligent support for government decision-making’.
In order to allow administrative staff to gain a greater knowledge of AI technologies, some local governments have organised training courses, such as those held in Zhengzhou by an artificial intelligence expert from Qinghua University in Beijing.
This operation, besides being the result of the national frenzy generated around the R1 model of DeepSeek, a winning ace in the technological war against the United States and a turning point in global innovation of artificial intelligence, also has another important meaning.
It allows us to take a further step forward in the creation of so-called ‘smart cities’, that is, efficient, hyper-digitalised and eco-friendly urban realities, as indicated in the past by Xi Jinping himself.
Longgang, a district of the city of Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, was one of the first in China to adopt the use of the DeepSeek R1 model in daily practice. As explained in a report published on the local government's web portal, AI technology has simplified the work of officials in various ways: from the most trivial support in drafting and correcting documents, to the rapid analysis of feedback sent by citizens, to the search for missing persons, through the 230,000 surveillance cameras with integrated AI monitored by the district.
The government of Kunshun, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, has stated that it has applied DeepSeek models to its e-government system, making its functionalities available to various departments. The police, for example, are using AI to extract large volumes of data useful for searching for clues, while the transport authorities are exploiting its advantages to predict traffic flows more quickly.
The city of Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong province, has integrated DeepSeek into its support services, and in particular the ‘12345’ toll-free number, to more effectively manage the reception of complaints and suggestions from local residents. According to the city government, this has reduced the average waiting time for calls by 43% and increased the accuracy of forwarding requests to the relevant department by 97%.
Zhang Shijia, technical director of the online and telephone platform ‘12345’ in Liaoning province, is also satisfied with the results achieved after connecting the helpline to AI: intervention and emergency resolution times have been significantly reduced compared to before, and the level of accuracy in information processing has increased.
In the wake of DeepSeek's success, the country's universities are gearing up to include courses focused on DeepSeek and other AI technologies in their curricula. The University of Shenzhen, located in China's southern technology hub, has partnered with Tencent Cloud to introduce a course based on the well-known Chinese start-up, starting this semester. As can be read on the institution's social media, the aim is to help students gain a greater understanding of AI technology and its applications, in order to ‘promote deeper integration and innovation’ of artificial intelligence in a variety of contexts. In addition, issues related to AI security, privacy and ethics will also be addressed.
Similarly, Zhejiang University in eastern China has recently launched an online course focusing on Chinese start-ups that is open to the public as well as students and teachers. According to Xu Hui, a researcher at the University of Jena in Germany, ‘the rapid introduction of DeepSeek-related courses in Chinese universities reflects the strong demand for AI from both the market and the public’. The researcher adds that ‘DeepSeek has significantly promoted the application of AI in various sectors of Chinese society and colleges and universities have been most affected’. Xu, however, is certain that young Chinese people who have quickly familiarised themselves with these cutting-edge tools will be more competitive in the job market.
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