
Episode 7 of Podcast / How DeepSeek controls the conversation
From Digital Digging by Henk van Ess
January 29, 2025 · 21 min
About this episode
This episode explores how DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, operates under state control while presenting itself as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT.
Henk van Ess's article DeepSeek: The Real Price of China's AI investigates DeepSeek , a Chinese AI company, whose seemingly inexpensive ChatGPT competitor masks a sophisticated system of state control. DeepSeek's AI , while appearing cost-effective on the surface, is demonstrably limited in independent thought and strictly adheres to Chinese Communist Party propaganda. Today’s episode guides are, in style, the virtual hosts of NotebookLM. Get full access to Digital Digging with Henk van Ess at www.digitaldigging.org/subscribe
People in this episode
Host: Henk van Ess
Topics covered
- AI
- state control
- propaganda
- technology
- China
- DeepSeek
Keywords
- DeepSeek
- AI
- China
- propaganda
- state control
- Henk van Ess
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: DeepSeek, Chinese Communist Party
Books & works: DeepSeek: The Real Price of China's AI
Places: China
More episodes of Digital Digging
- Episode 9: From hidden data to insight: the power of vibecoding · January 17, 2026 · 13 min
- How Claude was weaponized by hackers · November 14, 2025 · 12 min
- Claude VisualPDF: Why It’s a Big Deal · November 11, 2024 · 9 min
- The Shitification of Google · October 3, 2024 · 14 min
- Never use "summarize this"! (Podcast) · September 28, 2024 · 12 min
- Cracking cases through a delicate dance of human and machine · September 24, 2024 · 16 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Digital Digging podcast page.