The defense and trade ministries of South Korea Wednesday moved to prevent access by a Chinese AI startup, DeepSeek, to government computers. The decision comes after the country’s data watchdog sought clarification on how the company handles user information. A chatbot launched by the firm last month called R1 has piqued attention for arguing its capacities put it on par with such top United States AI models while costing hundreds of times less.
DeepSeek, like many international companies, also has an issue of data ethics. The country of South Korea, among others such as France and Italy, raised an issue on how DeepSeek manages sensitive user data. Part of this investigation was asking the said company about its methods on handling sensitive data. To date, the response to such information has not been received.
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South Korea Blocks Access Due to Data Privacy Concerns
The defense ministry of South Korea confirmed Thursday that it had cut off access to military computers connected to the internet by DeepSeek. It said that restrictions were specifically targeted at military work-related devices. The trade ministry followed suit and temporarily restricted access to all PCs within the agency, pending clarification from DeepSeek on the data privacy inquiry.
“Blocking measures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military work-related PCs with Internet,” a defense ministry official said to AFP.
The trade ministry also reported that DeepSeek has not responded to the PIPC’s inquiry. “We have temporarily blocked DeepSeek since it has not responded to The Personal Information Protection Commission’s inquiry,” the ministry added.
International Response and Escalating Scrutiny
This is one of the several global moves expressing concerns about the data practices of DeepSeek. Italy has already launched an investigation into the R1 model and blocked the model from processing data from Italian users. Australia banned DeepSeek from government devices, following advice from its security agencies.
DeepSeek, meanwhile, said that its massive learning model is fueled by less advanced H800 chips. These chips are allowed to be sold to China until 2023 under US export controls. South Korea’s chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are among the key suppliers of advanced chips used in AI servers, adding another layer to the scrutiny over DeepSeek’s operations.
