How Deepseek became a fortune teller for Chinese youth

Zhang exhaled. She recently left her stable work manager at the main technology company to start her own business and now verify. For years, she has turned to traditional Chinese happiness before major decisions on life decisions, looking for instructions and clarity for up to 500 RMB (about $ 70) for a session. But now he asks Deepseek. (Zhang’s birth details were changed to protect her privacy.)

“I began to talk to Deepseek as if it were a hanger,” Zhang says, explaining that it can support her spirituality and also act as a comfortable alternative to psychotherapy, which is still stigmatized and largely inaccessible in China. “It happened to my go-it when I feel amazed with thoughts and emotions.”

Zhang is not alone. Given that Deepseek became a domestic challenger for Open, young people across the country began to use AI to revive the practicing of happiness that have deep roots in Chinese culture. Only more than 2 million contributions in February mentioned the “Deepseek Fortune-Telling” on WeChat, the largest Chinese social platform, according to WeChat index, the tool that the company has issued to monitor its trend keywords. For all Chinese social media users share read-generated reading, experimenting with happiness and revising ancient spiritual texts-all with Deepseek.

AI Bazi Frenzy

The growth in a deep fortune teller comes at the time of ubiquitous anxiety and pessimism in Chinese society. After the Covvid pandemic, the youth in June 2023 appeared at the top of 21% and despite SOE’s improviment, it remained 16% by the end of 2024. The GDP growth rate in 2024 was among the slowest inputs. On social media, millions of young Chinese now red red for themselves as the “latest generation” express the unwillingness of the commitment of marriage and parenthood in the face of a deeply overwhelmed future.

“At the time of economic stagnation and low employment, they create (spirituality) the practices of the illusion of control and provide comfort,” says Ting Guo, associate professor of religious studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

However, Guo notes: “In China’s secular regime, people cannot explore religion and spirituality in public. As a result, there were more spiritual practices in the private environment underground ” – for example on a computer or phone screen.

Zhang first learned about Deepseek in January 2025, when the news of the opening of R1 was flooded with her WeChat feed. Shet tried it out of curiosity and was studied. “Unlike other AI models, she felt liquid, almost human,” he says. As a self-written enthusiast of spirituality, she soon tested his ability to tell her happiness using Bazi-and the result was obviously bright.

Bazi, or four pillars of fate, is a traditional Chinese system for paying assets that maps the fate of people based on their date and time of birth. It analyzes the balance of wood, fire, ground, metal and water in the ranking of a person to predict career success and financial assets. Traditionally, reading required a qualified master to interpret complex ways of interacting. These experts would offer a creative or even poetic reading that is difficult to replicate using a machine.