South Korea has banned new downloads of China’s DeepSeek synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot, in keeping with the nation’s private knowledge safety watchdog.
The federal government company mentioned the AI mannequin will grow to be obtainable once more to South Korean customers when “enhancements and treatments” are made to make sure it complies with the nation’s private knowledge safety legal guidelines.
Within the week after it made international headlines, DeepSeek grew to become massively well-liked in South Korea leaping to the highest of app shops with over one million weekly customers.
However its rise in recognition additionally attracted scrutiny from international locations world wide which have imposed restrictions on the app over privateness and nationwide safety issues.
South Korea’s Private Data Safety Fee mentioned the DeepSeek app grew to become unavailable on Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play on Saturday night.
It got here after a number of South Korean authorities businesses banned their staff from downloading the chatbot to their work gadgets.
South Korea’s performing president Choi Sang-mok has described Deepseek as a “shock”, that might affect the nation’s industries, past AI.
Regardless of the suspension of recent downloads, individuals who have already got it on their telephones will be capable of proceed utilizing it or they might simply entry it through DeepSeek’s web site.
China’s DeepSeek rocked the know-how trade, the markets and America’s confidence in its AI management, when it launched its newest app on the finish of final month.
Its speedy rise as one of many world’s favorite AI chatbots sparked issues in several jurisdictions.
Except for South Korea, Taiwan and Australia have additionally banned it from all authorities gadgets.
The Australian authorities has insisted its ban isn’t as a result of app’s Chinese language origins, however due to the “unacceptable threat” it says it poses to nationwide safety.
Italy’s regulator, which briefly banned ChatGPT in 2023, has completed the identical with DeepSeek.
The corporate has been requested to handle issues over its privateness coverage earlier than it turns into obtainable once more on app shops.
Knowledge safety authorities in France and Eire have additionally posed inquiries to DeepSeek about the way it handles residents’ private data – together with whether or not it’s saved on servers in China, as its privateness coverage suggests.
It additionally says that, like different generative AI instruments, it could accumulate data comparable to electronic mail addresses and dates of beginning, and use enter prompts to enhance their product.
In the meantime, lawmakers within the US have proposed a invoice banning DeepSeek from federal gadgets, citing surveillance issues.
On the state-government degree, Texas, Virginia and New York, have already launched such guidelines for his or her staff.
DeepSeek’s “massive language mannequin” (LLM) has reasoning capabilities which can be similar to US fashions comparable to OpenAI’s o1, however reportedly requires a fraction of the associated fee to coach and run.
That has raised questions in regards to the billions of {dollars} being invested into AI infrastructure within the US and elsewhere.
