China’s DeepSeek adds advanced ‘thinking’ feature to chatbot amid buzz over next model

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has updated the user interface of its flagship chatbot by adding an advanced “thinking” feature, as its app recorded a massive 90 per cent jump in monthly active users (MAU) in December.\nThe upgrades, including a deep research mode similar to OpenAI’s namesake product, marked a rare improvement on the consumer side for the Hangzhou-based firm at a time when anticipation was building over its next-generation models, analysts said.\nDeepSeek’s website and mobile app have both started offering an advanced search function called “interleaved thinking”, in which the chatbot performs multi-step research with “thinking” interspersed throughout the process.\nPreviously, the chatbot would “think” through a prompt provided by a user before generating a response. The “interleaved” allows the model to “think” between each action, strengthening its research capabilities.\nThis process is integral to powerful research tools like OpenAI’s Deep Research, which can handle complex queries. For instance, after opening a webpage, the model may need to “think” about the credibility of the information it reads before deciding whether to consult another document to verify the findings.\n\nA test by the Post showed that DeepSeek’s chatbot does not always deploy this “deep research” mode unless prompted with complicated queries. Once the feature is deployed, the user is able to see each step of the “interleaved thinking” process.\nOther Chinese start-ups, including Moonshot AI and MiniMax, have recently added similar features to their chatbots.\nAnother addition to DeepSeek’s chatbot is a timeline interface that allows users to toggle between their questions, a function seen in only a few other chatbots such as Grok, the flagship product of Elon Musk’s start-up xAI.\nDeepSeek did not officially announce the upgrades, but “interleaved thinking” was introduced as a capability in its latest model, V3.2, released in early December, which the company said offered reasoning power rivalling Google DeepMind’s Gemini 3 Pro.\nAccording to AI product tracker Aicpb.com, DeepSeek’s app was the fastest-growing AI app in China last month, with MAU rising to nearly 131.5 million.\nThe sharp jump reversed months of declining visitors as DeepSeek, known for its focus on core research, trailed domestic rivals in improving user experience over the course of 2025, said Aicpb.com founder Li Bangzhu.\nFor example, while DeepSeek’s chatbot still lacks multimodal support, ByteDance’s Doubao, the most popular AI product in China, can already process and generate text, voice, image and video.\nThe interface upgrades could lead to a further increase in DeepSeek’s users, said Delta Wu, head of Chinese AI research firm Unique Research. DeepSeek’s groundbreaking R1 model, released a year ago, drew widespread attention for being the first AI chatbot to reveal its thinking process to users, a feature later adopted by competitors.\n“However, I think DeepSeek’s product is still fundamentally a testing ground for its models, where feedback is collected and iterations are made,” said Wu. “So far, they have shown that they don’t much care about their number of end-users, with the core mission still being achieving artificial general intelligence.”\nIndustry expectations are high that DeepSeek will release its next major model in the run-up to the Spring Festival holiday in mid-February. The company released R1 on the eve of the holiday last year.\n