SMU Associate Professor Zhu Feida noted that the emergence of DeepSeek has driven Chinese tech giants to adopt free, open-source models, leading to price competition. While large firms have resources and user bases, smaller companies have the flexibility to focus on niche sectors like law, healthcare, or education. Baidu announced that its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, will be available for free from April 1, due to technological improvements and cost reductions.
