China now connects everything – from chatbots and smart vehicles to government departments and schools – to DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that emerged and became famous last month.

Baidu, a Chinese search engine, announced that its chatbot Ernie Bot 4.9 version now integrates with DeepSeek-R1 to enhance students' problem-solving capability. Students can take a picture of a question, and then the chatbot will answer it with detailed steps.  

The company also said it will allow individual users and SMEs to use Ernie's basic functions for free from April and will charge high-end customers only for some tailor-made services.

Some Chinese media said Baidu could obtain more data by giving up its closed-source model and connecting with other AI models, but such a move would also require it to rely on external platforms and cause it to lose competitiveness over the long run. 

Tencent said on February 16 that users of its Weixin messaging app can now use DeepSeek for searches. A company spokesperson told the news media that Tencent is exploring integration of multiple products with DeepSeek.

Earlier this month, the Shenzhen-based Huawei said its Huawei Cloud has connected with DeepSeek-R1. Chinese automakers BYD and Geely also said their electric vehicles integrate with DeepSeek-R1.

"The technical advantages of leading IT companies pave the way for free AI services," said Gong Zheng, an engineer at the Institute of Technology and Standards, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), which is a research institute under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

"Free basic AI services can become a channel for companies to source data. These companies can form a 'closed business loop' and offer value-added services and enterprise-level solutions," he said, adding that China wants to formulate the industry standards for the next generation of human-computer interaction technology. 

A "closed business loop" refers to a process in which a company actively collects customer feedback and analyzes it to improve its products and services.

On Tuesday state media, including Xinhua, promoted the benefits of allowing primary and secondary school students to use DeepSeek, even though many countries discourage their students from using AI tools to do homework.