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Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek made a rare appearance at a state-backed industry event on Friday as a senior researcher reaffirmed the AI lab’s commitment to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) despite its potentially “dangerous” impacts on society. Chen Deli spoke during a panel discussion alongside the heads of five other companies collectively known as China’s “six little dragons” of AI at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, eastern Zhejiang province. It marked the second time in recent months that the low-profile Hangzhou start-up had sent a representative to an industry event, after its head of AI governance, Wu Shaoqing, joined a panel on AI ethical guard rails at the Global Open-Source Innovation Meetup in Hangzhou in September. Representing DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng, who has not appeared in public since a high-profile televised meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in February, Chen said he was optimistic about the technology itself but pessimistic about its overall impact on society. Chen said AI’s current limitations mean humans and machines are in a “honeymoon phase”, but warned that most jobs could eventually be automated. “Humans will be completely freed from work in the end, which might sound good but will actually shake society to its core,” he said, urging AI companies to act as “whistle-blowers” by warning the public about the jobs that would be made redundant first. A spin-out from quant fund High-Flyer, DeepSeek was founded in 2023 as an AI lab with the mission of developing AGI – a hypothetical AI system that matches the cognitive capabilities of a well-educated adult, according to one definition. One of DeepSeek’s biggest strengths was its “long-term focus” while avoiding short-term trends, Chen said, reiterating his firm’s commitment to developing AGI. It would not, however, be “alarmist” to consider such systems could be dangerous to society, he added. Similar worries were raised in an open letter last month, which called for a ban on the development of superintelligent AI before there was “strong public buy-in” and “broad scientific consensus” that it could be done safely. The letter was signed by hundreds of AI experts, policymakers and celebrities, including Chinese signatories like Zhipu AI CEO Zhang Peng and Tsinghua University professor Andrew Yao. However, slowing down or stopping AI development was not realistic, given the profit incentives driving the sector, Chen said. “You could even say the mark of success for this AI revolution is that it replaces the vast majority of human jobs,” he said. Other Chinese companies have also set out plans to develop powerful AI systems, including Zhipu AI and Alibaba Group Holding, whose CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said at the same conference that the company’s “super AI cloud” would be able to meet the industry’s massive computing demand. Alibaba owns the Post.
