Chinese cities launch DeepSeek-driven services as local cadres jump on AI bandwagon

City governments across China have launched online services featuring DeepSeek while local officials studied the AI start-up, which has emerged as a challenger to US rivals such as OpenAI.

Nanfang Daily, a Communist Party-affiliated newspaper in the southern province of Guangdong, reported on Sunday that senior officials in the city of Zhuhai had “watched reports on DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng” at a recent retreat.

The newspaper said this reflected the local government’s “expectations and confidence” in the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up.

Several cities in the province, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan, have already integrated DeepSeek into their online government services.

Guangzhou has started using DeepSeek’s R1 and V3 AI models in its public web portals to deliver services more efficiently, according to a report published by the city government’s official WeChat account on Sunday.

It said the city would use the technology to explain policies to the public, handle hotlines, take requests, improve internal workflows and manage city services.