A DeepSeek moment is playing out in rural China as peasants seek AI advice

A DeepSeek moment is playing out in China’s vast countryside, as rural residents discover that chatbots are useful for providing advice on topics ranging from pig farming to pest control.

Thanks to China’s extensive internet coverage and mobile phone penetration, the country’s rural residents, who account for a third of its 1.4 billion population, are eager to apply artificial intelligence (AI) services in farming and rural life after DeepSeek, the Hangzhou-based start-up, triggered a…