National-Level Application WeChat, Baidu Access DeepSeek

On February 16th, while WeChat Search was using the Hunyuan large model to enrich AI search, it officially began grey testing for integrating DeepSeek. This means that DeepSeek is connecting with a super app ecosystem with nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users. According to Tencent Group’s financial report, as of the end of the third quarter of 2024, the combined monthly active accounts of WeChat and Weixin reached 1.382 billion.

That evening, Baidu Search and ERNIE Bot Platform also announced that they will fully integrate DeepSeek and ERNIE’s latest deep search functionality. Search users can use DeepSeek and ERNIE’s large model deep search function for free, and developers on the ERNIE Bot Platform will be able to call the DeepSeek model at any time to create and optimize intelligent bodies. Baidu‘s financial report shows that as of the end of the third quarter of 2024, Baidu APP had reached 704 million monthly active users.

Artificial intelligence will enter a faster development stage. The technology represented by DeepSeek is further driving down the cost of AI applications, which is expected to stimulate more enterprises and institutions to deploy large models, accelerating the popularization of AI across all industries and daily life.

On the evening of February 15th, some users discovered that WeChat launched the ‘AI Search’ function, where they could choose the DeepSeek R1 model for ‘deep thinking’. On February 16th, it was confirmed by Tencent Group. While WeChat’s search feature calls on the Hunyuan large model to enrich AI search, it officially conducted a small-scale gray test to integrate DeepSeek. Users within the scope of this gray test can see the words ‘AI Search’ at the top of their chat box search entry. By clicking on it, they can freely use the full version of DeepSeek-R1 model and obtain a more diversified search experience. If this entry is not displayed, it means that this gray test has not yet covered that user account and they should patiently wait for future openings.

On February 13th before this event, Tencent AI assistant ‘Tencent Yuanbao’ announced its support for both Hunyuan and DeepSeek models. By opening Tencent Yuanbao and entering into a conversation interface, users can freely use the full version of DeepSeek-R1 model. According to reports, DeepSeek provided by Tencent Yuanbao supports online searches and integrates information sources from Tencent‘s ecosystem such as WeChat official accounts and video accounts to provide users with more stable, real-time, comprehensive, and accurate answers.

SEE ALSO: Baidu Ventures CEO Responds to Missing Out on DeepSeek