Consumers warned over AI courses

Paid-for materials exploit knowledge anxiety around emerging technology

While the rapid rise of China's homegrown artificial intelligence reasoning model DeepSeek has sparked a host of enterprises seeking to cash in by offering training courses on how to use it, experts have warned consumers to be wary of wasting their money on courses that provide guidance that is already freely available.

On Chinese lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, some users share guides on using DeepSeek, with prices ranging from a few yuan to several hundred yuan.

"If you don't learn how to use AI today, you'll be left behind tomorrow," several posts say. "How to use DeepSeek to earn money" is another trending topic on the platform. These posts are typically followed by links to purchase courses or join group chats.