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DeepSeek: The shining star of the AI model
In January 2024, DeepSeek achieved phenomenal out-of-circle during the Spring Festival, becoming the leader of China’s big model and playing a pioneering role in competing against OpenAI. Although there are many predecessors in the field of large models, DeepSeek stands out among them and becomes a dazzling star due to its excellent performance and unique advantages.
Its powerful functions and wide application have promoted market success. Since its release, the number of users has grown rapidly, and the number of downloads of applications in the Apple App Store and Android App Store has continued to rise, becoming one of the most popular AI applications. On February 1, 2025, DeepSeek’s daily active users exceeded the 30 million mark, setting a new record for reaching this milestone. As of February 2, it topped the Apple App Store download list in 140 countries, and also topped the Android Play Store in the United States. These data intuitively demonstrate that DeepSeek is deeply loved by users and has huge market influence.
Payment for knowledge: past prosperity and current situation
Over the past decade, payment for knowledge has been a high-profile track. In 2012, Luo Zhenyu’s “Luo Ji Thinking” launched a paid membership system on the Weixin Official Accounts, marking that knowledge payment has entered the public eye. Subsequently, knowledge-payment platforms such as Himalayas, Get, and Zhihu emerged one after another, and various knowledge-payment products appeared in large numbers. 2016 is known as the first year of knowledge payment. This year, Zhihu launched Value and Zhihu Live, which was launched online. The Himalayas held the first 123 Knowledge Carnival and received popular courses such as “Xue Zhaofeng’s Economics Course”. The knowledge-payment market has experienced explosive growth.
In the golden age of knowledge-based payment, products are rich and diverse, covering many fields such as business, workplace, culture, life, and health. Users can easily purchase interesting courses and study at any time through their mobile phones or computers. Some well-known courses, such as “Xue Zhaofeng’s Economics Course”,”Liu Run·5 Minutes Business School” and “Xiang Shuai’s Peking University Finance Course”, have attracted a large number of users to subscribe and create considerable business value. Among them,”Xue Zhaofeng’s Economics Course” has received more than 500,000 platform subscriptions and sales exceeding 100 million yuan, becoming a classic case in the field of knowledge payment.
Knowledge payment also extends from online to offline, taking the form of knowledge lectures, training, workshops, etc. Well-known celebrities such as Luo Zhenyu, Wu Xiaobo, and Li Shanyou often hold offline speaking activities. The ticket prices are not low, but they still attract many fans to participate. These offline activities provide users with opportunities to communicate face-to-face with big knowledge celebrities, further expanding the influence of knowledge payment.
However, as the market is saturated and user needs change, the knowledge-based payment industry faces a series of challenges. Slowing user growth is a major problem. AiMedia Consulting data shows that from 2016 to 2018, the growth rates of knowledge-paying users in China were 202.4%, 55.3%, and 28.5% respectively, showing a significant downward trend. By 2022, the growth rate will drop to 10.5%, and user growth will stabilize, indicating that the market has shifted from increment to stock and competition has become increasingly fierce. The problem of content homogenization is also more prominent, and users have increasingly higher requirements for content quality. However, some experts in the field of knowledge payment launch courses without in-depth research, misleading users. There are also products with copyright problems, plagiarism, and theft of other people’s content occurs from time to time. These problems harm the interests of users and hinder the healthy development of the knowledge-payment industry.
DeepSeek makes paying for knowledge worse”
Content production level
DeepSeek has had a huge impact on content production in the knowledge-paying industry. Its powerful content generation capabilities play an important role in writing, translation, programming and other fields, lowering the threshold of knowledge production and replacing part of the knowledge-paid content creation work.
DeepSeek is amazing in writing. Based on keywords, themes or simple descriptions entered by users, high-quality articles can be quickly generated, whether they are news reports, academic papers, business copywriting or novel stories. Taking the creation of news reports on the development trend of artificial intelligence as an example, after users enter the theme, DeepSeek can generate reports with clear structure and rich content in a short period of time, covering applications, research results, development directions, etc., and can also adjust the style and tone according to user requirements. This poses challenges for creators who make a living by writing paid articles. In the past, they had to spend a lot of time and energy collecting data and creating, but now DeepSeek can complete it in a few minutes and the quality is not bad.
Translation work is also affected. DeepSeek supports translation into multiple languages and has excellent understanding of grammar, semantics and cultural background. In international business exchanges, the translation of contracts, emails and other documents used to rely on professional translators, but now it can be easily completed with DeepSeek. Relevant data shows that after the emergence of AI translation tools such as DeepSeek, the scale of the online paid translation market has dropped by about 20% in the past two years, and many small translation companies are facing bankruptcy.
For programmers, DeepSeek is also a right-hand assistant. It can generate code in multiple programming languages such as Python, Java, and C++ based on the functional requirements described in natural languages. When programmers develop a simple website backend, they inform DeepSeek of the functional requirements, and it can generate a Python code framework, greatly saving development time and making paid programming courses less attractive. In the past, many people paid high prices to buy online programming courses, but now they can get programming assistance at any time through DeepSeek, which has greatly reduced learning costs.
In terms of content creation, many creators have relied on DeepSeek to assist in their work. When some self-media bloggers create articles, they first use DeepSeek to generate outlines and first drafts, and then revise and improve them according to their own ideas and styles, which not only improves creative efficiency, but also obtains more inspiration. A million-fan self-media blogger said that before using DeepSeek, he could only publish two articles a week and often worried about finding inspiration materials. Now, with it, it can easily publish four articles a week, and the amount of reading and interaction have also been significantly improved.
Companies are also beginning to use DeepSeek to generate internal training materials and documents. The person in charge of the training department of a large enterprise said that in the past, writing training materials was time-consuming and laborious. Now DeepSeek can quickly generate high-quality materials, improve training efficiency, reduce enterprises ‘dependence on external paid training courses, and compress the knowledge-paid market space.
Level of ways users acquire knowledge
DeepSeek also has an impact on knowledge payment in terms of how users can acquire knowledge. With DeepSeek, users can obtain a large amount of knowledge for free, meet basic intellectual needs and reduce their reliance on knowledge-paying platforms.
Compared with paid knowledge-based platform courses, DeepSeek is more convenient and low-cost to acquire knowledge. On knowledge-based payment platforms, users need to spend money to purchase courses, and the content is fixed, so they can only study according to course arrangements. When using DeepSeek, users can get immediate answers by entering questions in the search box. Whether it is subject knowledge or historical and cultural information, they can quickly get detailed answers. They can also adjust questions at any time to gain more in-depth and personalized knowledge.
When learning mathematics, students encounter problems and ask DeepSeek questions. It not only gives answers, but also explains in detail the ideas and methods for solving the problem. However, the content of mathematics tutoring courses on knowledge-based payment platforms may not be able to answer specific questions. In terms of cost, DeepSeek is free to use, and the price of courses on the knowledge-paid platform ranges from tens of yuan to thousands of yuan. DeepSeek is more attractive to users with limited financial conditions.
A survey of 1000 knowledge-paying users showed that after the launch of DeepSeek, more than 60% of users said they would reduce their consumption on knowledge-paying platforms, and 30% of them said they would stop purchasing knowledge-paying courses completely and use free AI tools such as DeepSeek to gain knowledge. They believe that the knowledge provided by DeepSeek can meet most needs and is easier and faster to use.
DeepSeek can also update knowledge in real time. Technology and society continue to develop, and knowledge is also being updated. The update speed of courses on knowledge-payment platforms is slow, making it difficult for users to obtain new knowledge in a timely manner. DeepSeek provides real-time access to the latest Internet information and provides cutting-edge knowledge. When learning about the latest research results in the field of artificial intelligence, users can use DeepSeek to obtain information as soon as possible without having to wait for course updates on the knowledge-paying platform.
Business model level
DeepSeek’s open source and open features impact the business model of paying for knowledge with the core of selling knowledge. It promotes the popularization of AI technology and allows the dissemination of knowledge more widely and free, in sharp contrast to the knowledge-paying business model.
DeepSeek is open source and opens its technologies and models to developers around the world. Developers can create applications and services based on secondary development based on its technologies. This open source model promotes the rapid development and innovation of AI technology, and more people can enjoy the convenience of AI technology. DeepSeek has an open interface and can deeply integrate with other applications and platforms to expand its influence. Many companies and developers use their technology to develop smart applications such as smart customer service, smart writing assistants, and smart translation tools to provide users with free services and to a certain extent replace knowledge-paid platform related services.
In the field of intelligent customer service, many companies use intelligent customer service systems based on DeepSeek technology to replace manual customer service, which can quickly and accurately answer user questions and improve customer service efficiency and quality. This has squeezed the market share of some companies that provide paid customer service training courses and services. In terms of smart writing assistants, some writing platforms integrate DeepSeek writing functions to provide users with free writing assistance services and impact paid writing courses and tools.
The development of AI technology has given rise to new business models and has also affected the knowledge-payment industry. Some AI-based platforms make money through advertising, data analysis, personalized recommendations, etc., rather than directly selling knowledge. These platforms use AI technology to collect and analyze user data, provide personalized services and advertising recommendations to achieve commercial value. A smart reading platform uses AI technology to analyze users ‘reading habits and interests, recommend personalized books and articles, and display related advertisements at the same time. This business model provides users with free reading services and makes money through advertising revenue. In contrast, the business model of knowledge-based payment platforms is relatively simple and faces competitive pressure from emerging business models.
The future direction of knowledge payment
transformation and upgrading
Despite the huge impact of AI models such as DeepSeek, the knowledge-payment industry will not disappear, but will seek new opportunities through transformation and upgrades. Knowledge payment platforms need to transform to provide in-depth, personalized and interactive services to meet the diverse needs of users.
Some knowledge-payment platforms have begun transformation attempts. Get APP to pay more attention to depth and professionalism in content, invite top experts and scholars in the industry to create high-quality courses, such as “Interpretation of Frontier Technology Trends”, and invite many well-known scientists in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and other fields to conduct in-depth analysis of cutting-edge technology development trends, providing high-value knowledge content. In terms of interactivity, add interactive links such as course discussion areas, online questions and answers, and offline activities to promote user exchanges and learning. Users can share their learning experiences in the discussion area, participate in online Q & A to ask experts, and participate in offline reading sharing meetings, theme lectures and other activities to enhance the learning experience.
These transformations have achieved certain results. According to APP user data, after the launch of high-quality courses and the addition of interactive links, user activity and Retention rate have increased significantly. The average user stay on the APP has increased by 30%, the course completion rate has increased by 20%, and user satisfaction has increased from 70% to 85%.
In addition to getting apps, other knowledge-payment platforms are also exploring transformation. Based on audio content, Himalayas expands video courses, live interactions and other forms to enrich user learning experience. Fan Deng Reading focuses on community operations, establishes reading communities, organizes co-reading activities, offline gatherings, etc., enhances user contact and interaction, and improves user loyalty.
Integration with AI
The integration of knowledge payment and AI technology is the future development trend. AI technology can bring innovative changes to the knowledge-paying industry, improve efficiency and quality, and expand boundaries and possibilities.
In terms of content recommendation, AI technology accurately recommends personalized knowledge content based on user interests, learning history, behavioral habits and other data. Through deep learning algorithms, AI analyzes user needs and preferences, recommends course articles that meet needs, improves user learning efficiency, and increases user stickiness to the platform. After a knowledge-payment platform used AI technology to recommend content, the user’s course purchase rate increased by 40%, and satisfaction increased significantly.
AI can also create intelligent learning assistants and provide intelligent learning services. The intelligent learning assistant provides personalized learning suggestions and answers based on the user’s learning progress and questions. It tracks learning in real time, analyzes learning data, identifies difficult learning problems and provides timely help. When users learn mathematics courses, the intelligent learning assistant analyzes weak links based on the answers, recommends targeted practice questions and explanation videos to improve the learning effect.
Using AI technology to develop interactive learning courses is also an important direction. Interactive learning courses increase user participation and interest in learning, and improve learning effectiveness. With the help of technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), AI creates an immersive learning environment that allows users to feel the charm of knowledge. In history courses, using VR technology, users can experience historical events through time and space and enhance their understanding and memory of historical knowledge.
With the development and application of technology, the integration of knowledge payment and AI has broad prospects. In the future, more innovative knowledge-paid products and services will emerge to provide users with high-quality, efficient and personalized learning experiences, and the knowledge-paid industry will also achieve new development breakthroughs in integration.
conclusion
The emergence of DeepSeek has brought huge changes to the field of knowledge payment. Relying on its strong content generation capabilities, convenient knowledge acquisition methods and open source characteristics, it has a profound impact on the knowledge-payment industry from the aspects of content production, users ‘access to knowledge and business models. Representatives in the knowledge-payment field, such as Luo Ji Thinking and Knowledge Planet, have also been affected. Luo Ji Thinking faces challenges in content creation, user acquisition and commercial monetization. User activity has declined and the growth of new users has slowed down. Knowledge Planet has been affected in terms of content acquisition, creation, community activity and paying propensity. Users ‘demand for knowledge on the planet has decreased, and community activity has declined.
But the knowledge-based payment industry will not decline. Faced with the impact of AI models such as DeepSeek, the industry is actively seeking transformation and upgrades. By transforming to providing deep, personalized and interactive services and deeply integrating with AI technology, it is expected to find development opportunities in a new market environment.
In the future, the knowledge-based payment industry will pay more attention to content quality and depth to meet the diverse needs of users. AI technology will play a more important role in the field of knowledge-based payment and promote innovation and development in the industry. The knowledge-based payment industry also needs to strengthen standardized management, improve content quality, protect user rights and interests, and enhance the overall image and competitiveness of the industry.
In the era of change, only by actively embracing change and constantly innovating and developing can the knowledge-payment industry remain invincible in the fierce market competition. Big AI models such as DeepSeek will also continue to promote the transformation and development of the knowledge-based payment industry, bringing more surprises and possibilities.
