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DeepSeek is decoding Chinese destiny

The AI company’s ability to offer traditional fortune-telling is proving popular as the economy slows

    • For many ordinary Chinese, it is not DeepSeek’s geopolitical significance that excites them, but its ability to help them navigate their personal lives.
    • For many ordinary Chinese, it is not DeepSeek’s geopolitical significance that excites them, but its ability to help them navigate their personal lives. PHOTO: CMG
    Published Fri, Jul 25, 2025 · 02:00 PM

    UNIVERSITY lecturer Wang always thought her son’s name was not properly aligned with his “five elements” – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – potentially causing him trouble in later life. 

    To fix this, the 34-year-old would once have had to hire an expensive master of “BaZi”, or the Four Pillars of Destiny – the traditional Chinese system of fortune telling.

    Today, however, there is DeepSeek, the home-grown AI model whose sympathetic use of the Chinese language has proved surprisingly adept at BaZi – a form of astrology that uses a person’s birth time and other details to determine the balance of the five elements and other aspects of their destiny.

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