Residents of rural areas, which make up one-third of China’s 1.4 billion people, are keen to utilize AI services.

In China’s extensive rural areas, a DeepSeek scenario is unfolding as villagers find chatbots helpful for obtaining guidance on subjects varying from hog raising to crop protection.

Owing to China’s widespread internet access and high mobile phone usage, the nation’s rural inhabitants—who make up one-third of its 1.4 billion people—are keen to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in agriculture and daily village life following the national surge in AI uptake sparked by DeepSeek, the Hangzhou startup, through their open-source models.

Chinese tech giants like Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings have also created user-friendly chatbots to expedite the spread of AI applications. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, entered into a strategic alliance with the Zhejiang provincial government, partially aiming to reduce the urban-rural income disparity through the use of AI technology.

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China’s leading AI chatbots like Tencent’s Yuanbao, Alibaba’s Tongyi, and ByteDance’s Doubao are rapidly gaining new users, even among people living in remote rural areas.

In Jiaohe, a town in northeastern Jilin province, a village chief reached out to Tencent directly for help in promoting AI to villagers. In advertisements displayed around the town, he encouraged the townspeople to “search Tencent Yuanbao on the app store”.

Village Chief Mr. Lu informed the Post that the chatbot has seamlessly integrated into daily rural routines. Villagers leverage AI functionalities to recognize flora and fauna, examine paperwork, locate governmental aid programs, obtain agricultural and animal husbandry guidance, and produce marketing content for regional online commerce enterprises.

Tencent established a dedicated task force to launch an “AI for Agriculture” initiative. According to a Tencent staff member closely involved with the project, features such as image recognition and voice control have considerably simplified tasks for farmers. Additionally, the firm adjusted its AI algorithms to better suit agricultural contexts and worked alongside local authorities to enhance educational efforts.

Posters advocating for Tencent’s Yuanbao, which incorporated DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning engine in February, have proliferated across rural areas of China, notably in northeast regions, igniting conversations on Chinese online platforms. “Encountering issues with crops?” they ask, “Consult Tencent Yuanbao.” “Wondering about starting a business in the countryside?” another reads, “Ask Tencent Yuanbao.” “Facing challenges with live-stream selling?” yet another queries, “Turn to Tencent Yuanbao.” These messages, displayed prominently on road signs in striking white and yellow letters, can be spotted throughout these communities.

Last month, Yuanbao’s daily active users saw an increase of twenty times compared to previous levels, according to Tencent President Martin Lau Chi-ping, who mentioned this during the firm’s recent annual revenue discussion.

Alibaba’s Quark, which initially launched as both a web browser and cloud storage platform before being relabeled as their primary AI assistant, had accumulated 146.6 million monthly active users by February, based on statistics from China-based AI monitoring tool AIcpb. Another rapidly ascending AI application, Doubao, garnered 81.9 million monthly active users, whereas DeepSeek’s corresponding app managed to secure 61.8 million users during the same period.

Local administrations are embracing AI technology to enhance farming practices. For instance, in Enping—a township located in southern Guangdong Province—the municipal government has implemented an AI system powered by DeepSeek. This system alerts farmers about potential pest threats through notifications sent directly to their mobile devices, as reported by the local authorities’ official publication.

The swift expansion of AI services has ignited optimism that China’s rural-urban income disparity might shrink. However, this progress has also sparked worries. This includes the dissemination of AI-created material such as convincing yet deceptive video and audio recordings, alongside experimental uses like AI-driven equity analysis tools.

Lu, the party secretary in Jilin, emphasized the significance of educating local inhabitants on using artificial intelligence responsibly. Consequently, he intends to organize additional training sessions aimed at instructing villagers on how to “view AI-generated responses with rationality and objectivity.”

“The surge in artificial intelligence signifies a trend toward technological democratization. It’s crucial for rural regions to capitalize on this chance to narrow the urban-rural knowledge divide,” stated Lu.

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The article initially appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), which serves as the premier source of news covering China and Asia.

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