South Korea bans new downloads of China’s DeepSeek AI

South Korea has banned new downloads of China’s DeepSeek synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot, based on the nation’s private knowledge safety watchdog.

The federal government company mentioned the AI mannequin will develop into accessible once more to South Korean customers when “enhancements and cures” are made to make sure it complies with the nation’s private knowledge safety legal guidelines.

Within the week after it made world headlines, DeepSeek grew to become vastly in style in South Korea leaping to the highest of app shops with over 1,000,000 weekly customers.

However its rise in reputation additionally attracted scrutiny from international locations all over the world 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 workers from downloading the chatbot to their work units.

South Korea’s appearing president Choi Sang-mok has described Deepseek as a “shock”, that would affect the nation’s industries, past AI.

Regardless of the suspension of recent downloads, individuals who have already got it on their telephones will have the ability to proceed utilizing it or they could simply entry it by way of DeepSeek’s web site.

China’s DeepSeek rocked the expertise trade, the markets and America’s confidence in its AI leadership, 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.

Other than South Korea, Taiwan and Australia have additionally banned it from all government devices.

The Australian authorities has insisted its ban just isn’t because of the 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 performed the identical with DeepSeek.

The corporate has been requested to handle issues over its privateness coverage earlier than it turns into accessible once more on app shops.

Information 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 privacy policy suggests.

It additionally says that, like different generative AI instruments, it could acquire data similar to e 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 units, citing surveillance issues.

On the state-government stage, Texas, Virginia and New York, have already launched such guidelines for his or her workers.

DeepSeek’s “massive language mannequin” (LLM) has reasoning capabilities which are corresponding to US fashions similar to OpenAI’s o1, however reportedly requires a fraction of the 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.