Chinese companies, as a signal of patriotism, are racing to build services on top of the homegrown AI model that has taken the world by storm since January.
DeepSeek is now embedded in a wide range of products and government services in the country.
Some officials have warned about overreliance on DeepSeek.
Beijing views AI development as a critical driver of economic growth and a strategic pillar in global tech competition.
China’s biggest home appliances company, Midea, has launched a series of DeepSeek-enhanced air conditioners. The product is an “understanding friend” who can “catch your thoughts accurately,” according to the company’s product launch video.
It can respond to users’ verbal expressions — such as “I am feeling cold” — by automatically adjusting temperature and humidity levels, and can “chat and gossip” using its DeepSeek-supported voice function, according to Midea. For those looking for more DeepSeek-powered electronics, there are also vacuum cleaners and fridges.
It can respond to users’ verbal expressions — such as “I am feeling cold” — by automatically adjusting temperature
LOL. Who in hell wants to talk to appliances like that? If I wanted to talk to an appliances at all (not really) it would be to give very explicit instructions, not some vague complaint.
and can “chat and gossip"
Translation: "We couldn't figure out how to get an LLM to not do this, so we're just going to call it a feature."
Agreed, No AI that I can't turn off. No AI that can't be turned off without disabling critical functionality.
If I buy a toaster, a fridge or a washing machine, I don't need it to have an internet connection or an OS, let alone AI. The only thing it needs an OS for is to collect data on me that can be sold to aggregators. That should be illegal, and if I can't disable it, I won't buy the gadget.
Chinese companies have always been enshitifying for decades. A defining characteristic of China is that it's pure capitalism with very little regulation compares to even the US, and nowhere close to the EU.