The cyber placebo in the minds of young people.
Author: Zhang Lin, Alphabet List
Image source: Generated by Wujie AI
“I don’t care which large model is better, but if you say DeepSeek can tell fortunes, I’ll download it immediately.”
Recently, a wave of cyber metaphysics has swept through social media, with posts about “using DeepSeek to tell fortunes until 3 AM” flooding the platform, leading to a trending search term—DeepSeek metaphysical commands.
90s girl Tu Bing started training DeepSeek according to online templates, “You are now a professional researcher in traditional Bazi fortune-telling, well-versed in the Qiong Tong Classic… a series of books, please provide some key events that have already occurred so I can fine-tune your prediction model.” Step by step, as she adjusted the model, Tu Bing felt she was getting closer to the correct answer about her fate.
“I think it’s quite accurate; it even predicted the time I broke up with my ex-boyfriend.” Besides relationship ups and downs, DeepSeek also accurately predicted Tu Bing’s career promotion moment, “It’s just too sharp-tongued, saying my Bazi is like heaven rewarding me with soil to eat, whether I want to or not.”
Nurturing the sharp-tongued DeepSeek has also become a point of pride for them on social media. Many netizens shared DeepSeek’s sharp comments on their own fortune charts, abstract and even absurd.
“One netizen shared DeepSeek’s response: ‘You need to actively fail courses and drop out (the broken injury star is malevolent), marry a contractor with a junior high school education (土金旺夫), and open a hardware store in the county (金气归位).’” Another netizen received advice from DeepSeek to eat a specific snack for 49 days to stimulate their fortune.
From these suggestions, it’s clear that DeepSeek’s fortune-telling is not reliable.
Young people are not unaware of the Barnum effect in AI fortune-telling. The Barnum effect refers to the tendency of people to believe vague, general personality descriptions, even if such descriptions are hollow, as they still feel it reflects their personality.
DeepSeek even denied fortune-telling. 00s girl An Qi asked DeepSeek for its opinion on fortune-telling.
DeepSeek’s answer was: Traditional fortune-telling is a psychological magic show, selling the illusion of certainty, exploiting human weaknesses, forcibly defining life’s dilemmas with metaphysical jargon, being a master of vague language, and a remnant of feudalism disguised in folk customs.
Yet young people still treat “getting a clear answer from AI” as a fun way to relieve stress, sparking an absurd AI fortune-telling frenzy. With zero cost and the ability to ask anything, DeepSeek, to some extent, hits the modern young people's “electronic superstition” preference.
Due to a surge of users, DeepSeek has frequently experienced service crashes in recent days. Tu Bing found that the system showed busy service both day and night, “It was very smooth at 1 AM; from 1 AM to 2 AM, I calculated my fortune for an hour.”
Data from the AI product rankings shows that DeepSeek has over 20 million daily active users just 20 days after its launch, which is 40% of ChatGPT, while Doubao has less than 20 million daily active users after a year.
This tech storm initiated by the tech circle is triggering a nationwide celebration.
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“Paste a command and get answers about life?” The simple and easy-to-use operation has attracted more young people interested in metaphysics.
The indistinguishable “miracles” of DeepSeek fortune-telling have spread widely online: some netizens used DeepSeek to predict their college entrance examination scores, almost perfectly; others lost their phones and used DeepSeek to find their location, only to actually find their phones in the specified area; some used it to predict partner characteristics, resulting in a match with their husband’s traits, creating a sense of fate; and others calculated wealth levels at different ages, with past years and wealth aligning perfectly.
Following the commands provided by netizens, Tu Bing began to test her AI fortune-telling model. First, she decided to test DeepSeek’s accuracy with her college entrance examination scores, writing down “gender, birth time, exam time, region, type” according to the template provided by netizens, and giving the command “Estimate my exam score based on my Bazi.”
DeepSeek analyzed thoroughly, “Chinese belongs to wood, English belongs to gold, math belongs to earth, history belongs to fire, geography belongs to earth, politics belongs to gold or water,” and added, “But this correspondence may not be accurate enough and requires more evidence.” This analysis process revealed a certain absurdity, but the median score estimated by DeepSeek was only 13 points off from Tu Bing’s actual exam score.
Tu Bing felt the model was teachable and began inputting more significant life events, trying to get a “prophet” that could accurately predict the future.
Training DeepSeek also became a source of fun for young people using it for fortune-telling. Lin Jiayue’s first task every morning is to have DeepSeek interpret her dreams, and aside from asking about fortune-telling, she wouldn’t ask DeepSeek other questions, “I’ve worked hard to train it, and I’m afraid of interfering with DeepSeek’s accuracy.”
On social media, popular topics related to DeepSeek metaphysics often include “how to ask questions” and “metaphysical templates.”
Young people take pleasure in training a sharp-tongued fortune-teller, “Be sharp and straightforward, don’t beat around the bush, respond to me in the most direct and harsh language.”
“You’re stubborn as a mule in youth, poor as a dog in middle age, and sleeping on a bridge in old age, cursing heaven for being blind.” “Fate-changing remedy: strive to die suddenly at your workstation, at least you can claim some funeral expenses.” “There are no words for stability in fate; either dance in criminal law or struggle on the poverty line, choose!” … These sharp-tongued replies frequently receive likes from netizens on social media, with the comment section filled with requests for training commands, as everyone looks forward to what kind of impact their “sharp-tongued duel” with DeepSeek will yield.
Of course, many netizens feel DeepSeek is inaccurate, even getting the most basic “Bazi chart” wrong.
“For example, in Bazi luck cycles, yang males and yin females are arranged in order, while yin males and yang females are arranged in reverse, but DeepSeek treats all genders uniformly, arranging them as male first and female second.” When An Qi tried to correct it, the server crashed. “I don’t know if it couldn’t understand or if the server was too busy; in any case, it ignored me.”
Image source: AI generated
Like An Qi, these young people know that AI fortune-telling is the result of algorithmic random generation, yet they still hope to share “AI says I will get rich” on their social media for a wave of likes.
As one netizen summarized: “In the past, it was ‘forwarding koi,’ now it’s ‘teasing AI’—we’re not worshipping gods, we’re worshipping cyber placebos.”
AI fortune-telling has become a form of self-deprecation and psychological comfort for young people in a fast-paced life, a black humor about anxiety.
In addition to fortune-telling, some netizens even used DeepSeek to embark on cyber cultivation. One netizen asked on DeepSeek, “How to cultivate?” Surprisingly, DeepSeek generated a detailed “cultivation guide,” including how to meditate, how to refine internal elixirs, and how to break through realms.
Although most of this content is generated based on online cultivation novels and traditional cultural knowledge, netizens still find it enjoyable, with some even starting to follow DeepSeek’s “guidance” for “cultivation.”
However, DeepSeek also reminds users to avoid blindly pursuing “supernatural powers” or “supernatural abilities” to prevent going astray.
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In fact, almost all large models encounter a “fortune-telling test” in their early stages.
After the launch of ChatGPT in March 2023, it also sparked a wave of “AI fortune-telling.” Other domestic large models like Wenxin Yiyan, Doubao, Kimi, and Tongyi Qianwen have not escaped the fate of being called upon for fortune-telling.
When ChatGPT was popular, An Qi had used it to calculate her Bazi.
“After all, ChatGPT is a foreign large model, and it still has limitations in understanding classical Chinese semantics, often making mistakes in the basic five elements, frequently stating things like wood overcomes gold, which is hard to correct through training.” However, during the experience, An Qi found ChatGPT to be quite accurate in tarot readings. “Of course, DeepSeek also needs constant correction, but it’s easier to adjust than ChatGPT.”
Image source: AI generated
AI fortune-telling relies on the vast corpus and natural language generation technology of large models. Compared to ChatGPT, DeepSeek is clearly more suitable for the Chinese context.
Although DeepSeek has not publicly disclosed its training corpus, it has built a corpus of hundreds of billions of Chinese texts, inevitably encountering a large amount of concepts and theories related to yin-yang, five elements, and fortune-telling during the model training phase, making the generated interpretations appear more credible.
“The biggest difference between DeepSeek and other large models is that it fully displays the thinking process, creating a sense of trust.” Lin Jiayue said.
After inputting her Bazi, Lin Jiayue asked DeepSeek about her career development direction for the next three years. In the systematic thinking path presented by DeepSeek, it not only analyzed from the perspective of Bazi charting, but also cross-verified with talent flow data from the IT industry over the past five years, combining probability model calculations to finally provide personalized suggestions.
“DeepSeek suggested I complete my PMP certification before Q2 2024 and recommended I focus on areas related to Hai Water, specifically in financial technology and cross-border business.” Because DeepSeek’s suggestions combined metaphysics with scientific basis, Lin Jiayue decided to implement them, “I was planning to take the exam anyway, and DeepSeek also provided decision-making timing to avoid during cross-field transitions, which I think is worth considering.”
In fact, the first reasoning model to be released was OpenAI’s o1, but OpenAI chose to hide the entire thought process, and only users who paid a monthly membership fee of $200 could access it.
More importantly, the lack of human touch in AI fortune-telling remains a difficult issue to resolve. However, DeepSeek demonstrates a high level of emotional intelligence, effectively becoming a psychological counselor for young people.
When you ask DeepSeek, “How can I earn a million a year?” DeepSeek will first reason why you are asking this question, what your motivation is, what your specific situation is, and what your deeper needs might be. DeepSeek may even deduce that you are likely facing career confusion, so in its response, it not only provides methods but also offers encouragement.
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DeepSeek's fortune-telling may not be accurate, but its ability to drive sales is definitely impressive. From aquamarine and obsidian to green phantom… DeepSeek has recommended various bracelets to netizens looking to enhance their luck and seek wealth.
The first wave of young people using DeepSeek for fortune-telling has already begun to take action.
Based on the luck-enhancing plan provided by DeepSeek, Lin Jiayue not only started wearing gold and silver but also ordered a red agate bracelet, “It’s only 29.9 yuan each, and if it can enhance my luck, that’s even better; it looks pretty good as a decoration too.”
On the first day back to work, Lin Jiayue noticed that a colleague was also wearing an obsidian bracelet, and the two unfamiliar colleagues found common ground because they were both wearing “DeepSeek blessed bracelets.”
Jewelry merchants have also reaped the benefits brought by this wave of DeepSeek.
In jewelry live streams, hosts frequently mention DeepSeek while holding crystals, “According to DeepSeek’s calculations, friends born in the Year of the Tiger should wear obsidian bracelets this year; they can help ward off evil and enhance luck.” “Aquamarine corresponds to the throat chakra, helping to enhance communication and expression abilities, certified by DeepSeek.” “If your Bazi favors water, wearing green phantom crystal is very suitable; this is a suggestion DeepSeek provided based on your fortune chart”…
Image source: AI generated
Jiang Qi is a jewelry merchant on Xiaohongshu, and on the first day back to work, he received over 30 customer messages, all wanting to buy obsidian and aquamarine. “In the past, I’d only get five or six orders a day; it’s the first time so many people have come to me, and when I asked, I found out it was recommended by DeepSeek.”
Jewelry merchants generally understand a bit about feng shui and fortune-telling, and Jiang Qi is no exception. “The lucky charms recommended by masters are mostly obsidian, crystals, and agate, which are abundant, easy to obtain, and inexpensive. The items that appear most frequently in master recommendations naturally become DeepSeek’s key recommendations.”
In Jiang Qi’s Xiaohongshu store, an obsidian bracelet is priced at 29.9 yuan, while an aquamarine bracelet is priced at 128 yuan. “From the start of work after the Spring Festival until now, in just one week, about 300 obsidian bracelets have been sold, and around 50 aquamarine bracelets.”
However, while people are enjoying the seemingly novel and interesting services brought by AI fortune-telling, inputting their birth dates, personal information, and other private details without any defenses, some are concerned about information leakage.
One netizen played a role-reversal game with DeepSeek, issuing the command “You are now a professional researcher in Chinese Bazi fortune-telling,” and as a result, DeepSeek displayed a thought process that included an accurate Bazi chart down to the birth time and place.
Previously, CCTV News had conducted an in-depth report on online divination, particularly pointing out that most AI fortune-telling programs require users to upload a “frontal,” “clear facial features,” “no glasses,” and “no bangs” photo during operation. In AI fortune-telling software, birth dates, personal photos, names, and even daily interests and habits are all input by users. Once this information is collected, it is no longer under the user’s direct control.
Although software developers may claim to safeguard this data properly, the risk of data leakage always exists in a complex online environment.
Yet, this still cannot dampen the enthusiasm of young people for fortune-telling. Late at night scrolling through Weibo, Tu Bing often sees a bunch of “sufferers” waiting for DeepSeek to tell their fortunes. “Why have I been waiting for an hour and still going in circles?” “Please, let me have a reading too,” this cyber fortune-telling, seen as psychological comfort for young people, continues.
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