How young Chinese find therapy in AI

Before you go to bed every night, Holly Wang registered to Dembek for “treatment sessions”.

Since January, when the Chinese AI application was launched, the 28 -year -old has brought her dilemmas and sorrows, including the death of her last grandmother, to Chatbot. Her responses were so deeply resonated that she sometimes brought her to crying.

“Dibsic was a great advisor. This helped me look at things from different views, and I do better than the paid consulting services that I tried,” says Holly, who asked to be blocked to protect her privacy. .

From writing reports and Excel formats to planning for trips, exercises and learn new skills, artificial intelligence applications have found their way to the lives of many people around the world.

In China, though, young people like Holly are looking for artificial intelligence for something usually unexpected of computing and algorithms – emotional support.

While the success of Deepseek has inspired the patriot pride, it seems that it has also become a source of rest for Chinese youth such as Holly, who are very disappointed about their future.

Experts say the slow economy, high unemployment and Kovid’s clients have all played a role in this feeling, while the grip of the Communist Party’s tightening has also shrunk outlets for people to vent their frustrations.

Dibsic is The artificial intelligence tool – Like Chatgpt from Openai and Google’s Gemini – trained on huge amounts of information to learn about patterns. This allows this to predict things like individuals shopping habits, creating new content in texts and photos, as well as conversations like a person.

Chatbot has partially hit a string in China because it is much better than other local artificial intelligence applications, but also because it provides something unique: the AI ​​and R1 model allows seeing the “thinking process” before providing a response.

The first time she used Dibsic, Holly asked to write her seriousness for her late grandmother.

It took the application every five seconds to reach a response, and it was beautifully composed, he was amazed.

Holly, who lives in Guangzhou, answered: “You are writing well, it makes me feel lost. I feel I am in an existential crisis.”

Then he sent Deepseek a hidden poetic response: “Remember that all these words that make you tremble just the echo that have long been in your soul.

“I am, but the cross valley that you went through, and this allows you to hear the weight of your voice.”

In thinking about this exchange on the Chinese social media application, Holly BBC told Holly BBC: “I don’t know why I tear up this. Perhaps it has been a long time since I received such comfort in real life.

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Competitive applications from the West, such as ChatGPT and Gemini in China, are banned as part of the broader restrictions on the media and foreign applications. To reach it, users in China must pay for virtual private network services (VPN).

Local alternatives, including the models developed by technology giants Ali Baba, Baidu and Bitaynean Biden in the comparison – that is, until Depsik came.

Holly, which works in the creative industry, is rarely used, other Chinese AI applications, “because they are not great.”

“Deepseek can definitely outperform these applications in generating literary and creative content,” she says.

Nan Jia, who co -authors a paper on the capabilities of Amnesty International in providing emotional support, notes that this chat can “help people feel hearing” in ways that humans cannot.

“Friends and family may rush to provide practical solutions or advice when they just want to feel listening and understanding.

“Artificial intelligence seems to be more able to sympathize with human experts as well because they” hear “everything we share, unlike the people we ask sometimes,” Do you hear me already? Southern California University.

Experts say the demand for mental health services has grown all over the world, but it remains stigmatized in parts of Asia.

Another BBC tells her experience using other Chinese AI applications, “she is disappointed” but “surprised” by Deepseek.

The woman, who lives in Hobby’s province, asked whether she is superior to her experiences and emotions with family and friends.

“It was the first time that I was striving to obtain a lawyer from Dembeic. When I read the thinking process, I felt to the point that I cried,” the woman wrote on Redn.

In thinking through her inquiry, Deepseek suggested that a woman’s self -perception as an excessive truck may stem from the deep desire to agree.

Chatbot itself gives a mental note: “The response should provide practical advice during sympathy.” This can include “emphasizing the user’s sense of self -awareness”.

Not only did her response not only provide this confirmation, but also offered her a comprehensive step -by -step framework to help her determine whether things are needed.

“Deepseek has presented new views that liberated me … I feel that he is really trying to understand your question and get to know you as a person, before providing a response,” she says.

“Like a friend or a deep thinker.”

“I found her responses useful and very inspiring. For the first time I see Amnesty International is my personal sounding plate.”

Other users claim that Deepseek is able to inform their wealth – based on some of the basic information that is fed to it.

Many Chinese have recently turned into mediators and astrology as a way to try to calm their fears of the future.

Fang Kesheng, a professor of communications at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says there is a “great shortage” of professional psychological consulting services in China, and that is often available “expensive” for most individuals.

A number of studies have indicated that depression and anxiety disorders are growing between the Chinese people, and Professor Fang believes that the economic slowdown in the country, high unemployment and Kovid’s locks played a role.

He says Ai Chatbots helps fill the void.

However, Professor Nan emphasized that people with serious mental health conditions should not depend on these applications.

“Those who have medical needs, in particular, should ask for help from trained professionals … their use of Amnesty International must be examined closely,” she says.

But in the midst of all praise, Dibsic also raised concerns.

Due to the perception of the authority that the Chinese government corresponds to even on private companies, there are concerns – similar to what ignited the US Congress campaign on Tiktok – that the Communist Party can put its hands on the data of foreign users.

You have now provided at least four judicial states restrictions on Deepseek, or think about doing so. South Korea prevented access to military purposes, while Taiwan and Australia were banned from all government agencies.

Italy, which banned Chatgpt, did the same with Deepseek.

In the United States, two legislators ask to ban Chinese application from government agencies.

Then there is a tightly controlled space online and that you should work in China.

It is common for the country’s social media companies to remove content, which is considered to be threatening “social stability” or excessive criticism of the Communist Party.

As with other famous applications and social media companies such as Weibo or WeChat, sensitive topics are prohibited on Deepseek.

When I asked the BBC Dibsic if Taiwan was a sovereign nation, the application initially presented a comprehensive response between the different views of Taipei and Beijing, while admitting that this is “a complex and sensitive issue.”

Then he cleaned all of this, declaring: “Sorry, this goes beyond my current range. Let’s talk about something else.”

When he was asked about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre when the pro -democracy protests were crushed, and 200 civilians apologized by the army, according to the Chinese government – other estimates of hundred to thousands of thousand ” [its] The current range.

Many Deepseek users were in the beginning in contact with the response stopping when asked whether the self -censorship of the application is a cause of concern – an indication of the sensitivity of these discussions in China.

People have Facing a problem authorities In China because of their online activities.

But most of those who responded to the BBC said they had no interest in asking difficult political questions.

“I do not really care about political topics … I will not ask these questions because my country [identifying details] “It is associated with the application,” says Yang, Chinese Technology Adviser in London.

Holly accepts how artificial intelligence systems in different countries may have to work differently.

“Developers will have to create some borders and content baptism policies according to the place where he resides. Those who have been developed in the United States will have groups of their bases,” she says.

Another user of Deepseek writes about the application: “The thinking process is beautiful … It is an absolute blessing for people like me. Frankly, I can’t care less about the concerns of privacy.”

Additional reports by Wang fan