Will DeepSeek have a disruptive impact on the fund industry?

Since its launch in January 2025, the DeepSeek-R1 model has sparked significant attention and discussion. In the final week of January, its user base surged exponentially, adding 100 million users in just seven days, cementing its status as a sensational product surpassing ChatGPT. During the Chinese New Year holiday, DeepSeek gained widespread traction due to its low-cost, high-performance, and open-source advantages, quickly breaking into mainstream awareness. Post-holiday, industries rapidly accelerated deployments of the model, driving forward China’s domestic AI development at an unprecedented pace.

Following the Chinese New Year, multiple fund companies have integrated the DeepSeek series of open-source models. Recently, firms including Xingzheng Global, China Merchants Fund, Wanjia Fund, Nuoyan Fund, Industrial and Haitong Fuguan announced the completion of privatized deployments of DeepSeek's open-source systems. These systems now comprehensively empower all operational aspects, including investment research, trading, risk management, customer service, and daily office workflows.

Industry experts highlighted that due to the sensitivity of financial data—which cannot be transmitted over public networks—the adoption of open-source models like DeepSeek enables fund companies to develop privatized, vertical AI solutions. This approach not only standardizes AI-driven processes but also enhances operational efficiency, accelerates the industry's shift toward intelligent transformation, and ultimately delivers higher-quality wealth management services to clients.

Would you trust investment advice provided by AI? In the near future, will we rely on AI-generated investment research reports to trade stocks?