Governments, regulators increase scrutiny of DeepSeek
June 27 (Reuters) - Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which said in January it had developed an AI model to rival ChatGPT at much lower cost, has come under scrutiny in some countries for its security policies and privacy practices.
According to its own privacy policy, DeepSeek stores numerous pieces of personal data, such as requests to its AI programme or uploaded files, on computers in China.
Below are countries' actions regarding DeepSeek:
In early February, Australia banned DeepSeek from all government devices over concerns that it posed security risks.
Germany has asked Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab to remove DeepSeek from their stores due to concerns about data safety, a data protection authority commissioner said in June.
India's finance ministry asked its employees at the beginning of February to avoid using AI tools including ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes, citing risks posed to confidentiality of government documents and data.
Italy's antitrust watchdog AGCM said in mid-June that it had opened an investigation into DeepSeek for allegedly failing to warn users that it may produce false information.
In January it blocked the app citing a lack of information on its use of personal data.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin in early February instructed Sberbank to collaborate with Chinese researchers on joint AI projects, a top executive at Russia's biggest bank told Reuters.
South Korea's data protection authority said in mid-February that new downloads of the DeepSeek app had been suspended in the country after the startup acknowledged failing to take into account some of the agency's rules on protecting personal data.
Earlier in February, the industry minister had temporarily blocked employee access to DeepSeek due to security concerns.
The service became available again at the end of April.
Taiwan in February banned government departments from using DeepSeek's service as it saw it as a security risk. It also raised concerns about censorship on DeepSeek and the risk of data ending up in China.
The Netherlands' privacy watchdog at the end of January said it would launch an investigation into Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek's data collection practices and urged Dutch users to exercise caution with the company's software.
The government has also banned civil servants from using the app, citing policy regarding countries with an offensive cyber program, the government spokesperson said in late July.
The Trump administration is weighing penalties that would block DeepSeek from buying U.S. technology, and is debating barring Americans' access to its services, the New York Times reported in April.
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