SEOUL: Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek upended the global industry and wiped billions off US tech stocks when it unveiled its R1 programme, which it claims was built on cheap, less sophisticated Nvidia semiconductors.
But governments from Rome to Seoul are cracking down on the user-friendly Chinese app, saying they need to prevent potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services.
AFP takes a look at what’s going on:
WHO HAS BANNED DEEPSEEK?
First to act was Italy, which launched an investigation into DeepSeek and said it was blocking the upstart Chinese app from possessing Italian users’ data.
Italy’s Data Protection Authority had briefly blocked Western competitor ChatGPT in 2023.
Next, Taiwan banned workers in the public sector and at key infrastructure facilities from using DeepSeek, saying it was a Chinese product and could endanger national security.
Australia following suit days after.
Then, South Korean ministries – including defence and unification, which oversees ties with the nuclear-armed North – and the country’s police force banned the app from military and work computers, citing security risks.
On Monday, authorities there said that DeepSeek would not be available from local app stores while a review of its handling of personal data is carried out.
US lawmakers have also moved to introduce a “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act”, with Congressman Darin LaHood saying the national security threat that “Chinese Communist Party-affiliated company” DeepSeek posed to the United States was “alarming”.
State-level bans were also issued in Texas, Virginia and New York.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said personal information “must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party”.
WHY ARE THEY WORRIED?
In the terms and conditions of DeepSeek, there is a section on the provision of personal data to third parties – very similar to that used by OpenAI’s Chat GPT.
But while US companies typically resist government requests for data, “in China when the government requests access, companies are legally obligated to provide user data”, said Youm Heung-youl, a data security professor at Soonchunhyang University.
“This distinction between respecting user privacy and providing government access often shapes how countries perceive trust in companies.”
According to DeepSeek’s privacy policy, it also collects information on “key stroke patterns or rhythms” which detects how an individual interacts with each button.
