DeepSeek researcher pessimistic over AI’s impact in startup’s first public appearance since success

WUZHEN, China, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Chinese AI company DeepSeek made its first public appearance in nearly a year after achieving global recognition. During a government-hosted internet conference, senior researcher Chen Deli expressed a pessimistic outlook on the long-term effects of artificial intelligence on humanity.

Chen spoke at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, sharing the stage with the CEOs of five other AI firms — Unitree, BrainCo, and others — collectively referred to in China as the country’s “six little dragons” of AI.

When asked about DeepSeek’s international success and its open-source strategy aimed at advancing AI development, Chen said that while AI could greatly assist humans in the short term, it might lead to significant job losses within the next 5 to 10 years as it becomes capable of performing many human tasks. He emphasized that AI companies must remain conscious of these potential risks, he said.

“In the next 10-20 years, AI could take over the rest of work (humans perform) and society could face a massive challenge, so at the time tech companies need to take the role of ‘defender’,” he said.

“I’m extremely positive about the technology but I view the impact it could have on society negatively.”

After gaining international attention in January for launching a low-cost AI model that surpassed top U.S. competitors, DeepSeek has largely stayed out of the public eye. Its only appearance came in February, when founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng met Chinese President Xi Jinping during a televised gathering with local business leaders.

Since then, neither Liang nor the company has made public comments about their success, and they have avoided major tech events across China. Following its remarkable rise, the Chinese government has highlighted DeepSeek as a symbol of national technological strength and resilience amid growing tensions with the United States.

Although DeepSeek has not launched any major model upgrades since January, its subsequent announcements have continued to attract widespread attention.

In September, DeepSeek introduced an enhanced version of its V3 model, calling it an “experimental” release that offers greater training efficiency and improved ability to handle long text sequences compared to earlier versions.

The company has also become a central figure in China’s push to strengthen its AI ecosystem and advance the domestic semiconductor industry. Chinese chipmakers such as Cambricon and Huawei have developed hardware designed to work seamlessly with DeepSeek’s models.

In August, DeepSeek’s announcement of a model optimized for Chinese-made chips triggered a sharp rise in the stock prices of domestic semiconductor companies.