South Korea has put the brakes on the DeepSeek chatbot app, which had been gaining attention for its AI-powered services. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced that DeepSeek agreed to stop new downloads starting February 15. This is all because the government is investigating how the Chinese company handles personal data, which has raised a lot of security concerns.
While the app’s not available for new users, people who already have it can still use it, though the PIPC has warned existing users to stay cautious until the investigation is over. The commission is taking a deep dive into how DeepSeek processes personal information during this pause and plans to make sure the company follows South Korea’s privacy laws.
The app, which launched in late January, works like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but it’s sparked privacy alarms across the globe. Right after it dropped, the PIPC started looking into how DeepSeek collects and handles data. So far, they’ve found some issues with how DeepSeek communicates with third-party services and processes personal data.
As part of their investigation, the PIPC will be doing on-site inspections to see if DeepSeek complies with South Korea’s strict privacy rules. They also plan to give advice to DeepSeek on how to improve, and hopefully, make sure other AI companies don’t run into similar issues.
This isn’t just a South Korean problem. Other countries have raised red flags too. Australia, Taiwan, and even Italy have placed bans or restrictions on DeepSeek’s app over data security. In the U.S., lawmakers are also considering a ban on government devices using the app.
DeepSeek has stirred the pot with its budget-friendly approach to AI. The company claims it spent less than $6 million on developing its R1 chatbot, a fraction of what companies like Google and OpenAI have spent on similar tech. This has left some wondering whether DeepSeek is getting more support behind the scenes than it’s letting on.
With the PIPC’s investigation underway, the world will be watching to see how this plays out. Could this be a wake-up call for AI companies to tighten up their data privacy practices? Time will tell.
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