China's rapidly-rising artificial intelligence (AI) platform DeepSeek is deeply impacting the development pattern of international AI development, attendees said at the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2025 Annual Conference.
AI has emerged as one of the key topics of discussion at this year's forum which opened in the town of Boao in south China's island province of Hainan on Tuesday, with multiple sub-forums examining how the technology is reshaping global AI dynamics and how to shape core competence in AI application.
Several high-profile attendees told China Central Television (CCTV) they've switched from Western alternatives like ChatGPT to the homegrown Chinese system, drawn by its open-source model and cost-free access.
"I use DeepSeek a lot. I don't use ChatGPT anymore. For one it is free and for the other it is open source. Open source is very important," said Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.
"I have used DeepSeek. I think it's a good AI tool and I think it can have good benefits for the rest of the world," said Carl Fey, professor of Strategy at BI Norwegian Business School.
Participants highlighted that DeepSeek is influencing the global trajectory of AI technology, fostering a climate of both cooperation and competition.
"The cooperation between Spain and China is very rich, spanning many sectors from agriculture to the automobile sector, to batteries and also to technology. And it's an interesting moment for this cooperation, especially now that China with DeepSeek has shown that the race for AI is open," said Arancha González Laya, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain.
"There is going to be competition, which is a good thing. And I don't believe that there are one or two or three players. There is going to be a lot of players and different kind of solutions for different kinds of purposes as well," said Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland.
This year, the concept of "embodied AI" was included in China's Government Work Report, and the concept of "AI plus consumption" was included in a government plan on special initiatives to increase consumption. Such actions signal China's ambition to lead in next-generation intelligent systems.
One of China's significant advantages in AI development is its vast amount of data and diverse business scenarios, surpassing those of the U.S. and Europe, said another attendee at the forum.
"We are rather strong in the application front. Although we have a lot of space for improvement in the side of AI infrastructure, we have already been pretty good in the application front even in the internet era. We have more applicable scenarios, we have more data, and then we have more opportunities to apply, and ultimately these will become our advantages," said Ruan Fang, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group.
The Boao Forum for Asia 2025 Annual Conference is scheduled to conclude on Friday.
China's DeepSeek emerges as global AI contender: forum attendees
