Amid growing concerns about AI security, South Korea joined France and Italy in investigating DeepSeek’s data practices, blocking the Chinese AI company on work devices after it disregarded a data watchdog investigation.
After the Chinese AI firm failed to reply to a data watchdog’s request over how it handles user data, South Korean police and ministries announced they were preventing DeepSeek from using work computers.
The commerce ministry stated that access had been temporarily limited on all of its PCs, while South Korea’s police confirmed on Thursday that they had barred access to DeepSeek.
Launching its R1 chatbot last month, DeepSeek claims to have upended the worldwide business by matching the capabilities of artificial intelligence trailblazers in the US for a fraction of the expenditure.
Along with nations like France and Italy, South Korea has submitted a written request for information regarding DeepSeek’s data policies, including how the company manages user data.
However, a number of ministries stated on Thursday that they were taking action to restrict access in order to stop possible leaks of sensitive data through generative AI services after DeepSeek did not reply to a question from South Korea’s data authority.
According to an official from the defense ministry, “Blocking measures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military work-related PCs with Internet,”
“Means that were implemented”
“Reiterated the security precautions regarding the use of generative AI for each unit and soldier, taking account security and technical concerns,” the ministry, which is in charge of active-duty troops fighting the nuclear-armed North, said.
According to the trade ministry, the action was taken because DeepSeek “has not responded to The Personal Information Protection Commission’s inquiry.”
Additionally, the nation’s finance ministry declared that it has “implemented measures to prohibit the leakage of personal and confidential information to DeepSeek for all employees.”
Italy began looking into DeepSeek’s R1 model last week and stopped it from processing data belonging to Italian users.
On the recommendation of security agencies, Australia has also prohibited DeepSeek from being used on any government-owned equipment.
According to DeepSeek, its massive learning model was powered by less-advanced H800 chips, which are allowed to be sold to China until 2023 because to US export restrictions.
Leading providers of cutting-edge chips for AI servers are the South Korean semiconductor behemoths Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
