DeepSeek gains popularity in Russia for high-quality content, accessibility: media

MOSCOW -- Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) application DeepSeek has become popular among Russian users for its high-quality content and accessibility, RIA news agency reported Tuesday.

"DeepSeek has primarily become popular due to the high-quality content that can be generated using the company's large language model, as well as the availability of its products," the report said, citing the press service of the AI segment of Russia's largest mobile operator MTS.

Unlike ChatGPT, DeepSeek is free and can be easily downloaded in Russia, it said, adding that the rise of new free and accessible applications like DeepSeek will likely lead to a decrease in ChatGPT's users.

Russian mobile operators t2 and Yota have also previously noted a growing interest in DeepSeek nationwide. DeepSeek's monthly users was 15 percent larger than that of ChatGPT in January, according to data from t2.