DeepSeek AI gains ground in developing nations, Microsoft report finds

Chinese technology startup DeepSeek, which competes with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is gaining traction across several developing nations, a trend that could help narrow the artificial intelligence adoption gap with advanced economies, according to a report cited by AP.

Researchers from Microsoft stated in the report released on Thursday that global adoption of generative AI tools reached 16.3 per cent of the world’s population in the three months to December, up from 15.1 per cent in the previous quarter. However, the report noted that the divide between developed and developing economies continues to widen, with AI adoption in advanced economies growing at nearly twice the pace of that in developing nations.

Juan Lavista Ferres, chief data scientist at Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, informed that the lab is observing a growing divide in AI adoption and expressed concern that the gap may continue to widen. The lab used anonymised telemetry data to track global device usage patterns.

According to the report, countries that invested early and consistently in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence recorded the highest shares of users. These included the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, France and Spain. Some of Microsoft’s findings overlapped with a Pew Research Center survey published in October, which examined attitudes towards AI across countries. In both studies, South Korea stood out for its strong embrace of artificial intelligence.

The report acknowledged that Microsoft has a commercial interest in the widespread adoption of AI, as the company and much of the technology sector are betting heavily on AI tools becoming more widely used and profitable. Lavista Ferres stated that despite this, the lab’s research takes a broader view of global AI adoption trends.

Researchers found that the rise of DeepSeek, founded in 2023, has contributed significantly to increased AI usage in developing regions. This has been driven by the startup’s free and open-source models, with key components made available for public access and modification.

DeepSeek drew global attention in January 2025 after releasing its advanced reasoning model, R1, which the company said was more cost-effective than comparable models developed by OpenAI. The launch surprised parts of the global technology industry and highlighted China’s rapid progress in advanced technologies. In September, the scientific journal Nature published peer-reviewed research co-authored by DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, describing it as a landmark paper from the Chinese startup.

Lavista Ferres stated that while DeepSeek performs well for tasks such as mathematics and coding, it operates differently from US-based models when responding to political topics. He explained that the model follows the same internet access framework as China, meaning certain questions, particularly political ones, may be answered in markedly different ways, which could influence global information flows.

DeepSeek offers a free-to-use chatbot on web and mobile platforms and allows developers worldwide to build upon and modify its core engine. Microsoft’s report stated that the absence of subscription fees has lowered barriers for millions of users, especially in price-sensitive regions.

At the same time, several developed countries, including Australia, Germany and the United States, have sought to limit the use of DeepSeek due to alleged security risks. Microsoft banned its own employees from using the platform last year. The report found that adoption of DeepSeek remained low across North America and Europe, while usage surged in China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Belarus, regions where US-based services face restrictions or where access to foreign technology is limited.

In many markets, DeepSeek’s popularity was linked to its availability as a default chatbot on smartphones manufactured by Chinese companies such as Huawei. The report stated that open-source AI can act as a geopolitical instrument by extending Chinese influence into regions where Western platforms are unable to operate easily.