Service temporarily suspended in South Korea as Chinese AI Deepseek faces concerns over data leaks

Concerns have been raised over the protection of personal information over the generative AI (artificial intelligence) developed by Chinese startup DeepSeek, and new app downloads have been restricted in South Korea.
It has been impossible since the 15th of this month. At a press conference on the 17th, the Korea Personal Information Protection Commission announced that it was suspending new downloads in Korea due to concerns over excessive collection of personal information and sharing with advertisers.
The committee said that the project has been temporarily suspended. It will be resumed if Deepseek takes corrective measures in accordance with relevant Korean laws. Deepseek has also taken some of the relevant Korean laws into consideration.
However, Chinese authorities have protested, arguing that economic and technological issues should not be made into security and political issues.
Deepseek is attracting attention as a conversational AI service alongside ChatGPT and Gemini. On the 20th of last month, it released its latest language model, "R1
" was released and became the most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store. The AI of an unknown Chinese startup is comparable to cutting-edge American AI products, despite its low cost.
The US stock market on January 27th fell sharply, mainly in AI-related stocks, due to the view that this would threaten the dominance of US companies that have been world leaders in the AI field.
The market was also calling it the "Deepseek Shock." The biggest feature of Deepseek is its low development and operating costs. The development cost was about 5.6 million dollars (about 870 million yen).
Although it costs about one-tenth of ChatGPT by the US Open AI (OpenAI), it is said to have performance comparable to ChatGPT.
The number is only about 140, far fewer than the more than 1,000 people at Open AI. Meanwhile, China's National Intelligence Law requires Chinese companies and citizens to cooperate in intelligence activities.
It has been pointed out that the use of deep seeks could allow information to be extracted by the Chinese side. Due to such concerns, companies and government agencies around the world have taken measures such as restricting their use.
The Italian government announced that it would restrict access, and Taiwan also banned its use in public institutions. Japan has not restricted its use, but the government's Personal Information Protection Commission announced on the 3rd of this month that
The company posted on its website points to note when using the service. It warned that data, including personal information, would be stored on servers in China and would be subject to Chinese law.
The committee is concerned about the "law" of the service, stating that "unlike other services, there are points to be aware of." In South Korea, too, ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have decided to set up their own data centers.
The government has blocked access to Deepseek. State-run Korea Hydro & Electric Power Co. also took steps to ban its use this month. Such measures are also spreading to companies, with IT giant Kakao and telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
LG U+ has banned the use of Deepseek for business purposes. Major banks and securities firms are also moving to block Deepseek.
In response to growing concerns about the handling of personal information by the company, on the 31st of last month, we sent the company a questionnaire regarding the collection and processing of personal information in the process of developing and providing services.
The National Intelligence Service, the intelligence agency of the United States, said on the 9th, "Unlike other AI generative services, it has been confirmed that chat records can be transferred. It collects keystroke input patterns that can identify individuals.
"These devices have the ability to collect and communicate with servers of Chinese companies," he said. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference on the 6th of this month that there have been moves in South Korean government ministries and agencies to block deep seeks.
When asked by reporters about this, he stressed that the Chinese government attaches great importance to data privacy and security and protects them in accordance with the law.
The Korean Personal Information Protection Commission has ordered Deepseek to temporarily suspend its services until the problem is fixed.
Deepseek accepted the recommendation and suspended new downloads in South Korea from the 15th. The South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo reported that "Many countries and institutions overseas have
"This is the first time that Deepseek has taken measures to restrict use of the app on its own, while Deepseek is currently restricting its use," the company said. However, users who have already downloaded the app can continue to use it.
The committee is urging people to use the service with caution, such as by not entering personal information. Deepseek plans to resume its service after making improvements and supplements in accordance with Korean law.
While the service is suspended, the committee will continue to closely monitor Deepseek’s personal information processing practices. The Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported, “Last year, the committee investigated OpenAI, Google, Microsoft
"The investigation into the actual state of personal information processing conducted on major AI generating companies such as Yahoo! JAPAN took about five months," the report said. The investigation into DeepSeek this time is expected to take "at the earliest, a few months."
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