South Korean Authorities Accuse DeepSeek of Excessive Data Collection

South Korea’s intelligence agency has accused the Chinese AI application DeepSeek of “excessive” collection of personal information and using input data for self-learning. This was reported by Reuters, citing a statement from the authorities.

The National Intelligence Service of South Korea (NIS) has already issued an official notice to government agencies, urging them to implement security measures regarding the neural network.

“Unlike other generative AI services, it has been confirmed that chat records can be transmitted, as they include a function for collecting keyboard input patterns that can identify individuals and connect with servers of Chinese companies, such as volceapplog.com,” the NIS statement said.

Some South Korean government ministries have blocked access to the application.

The NIS stated that DeepSeek provides advertisers with unlimited access to user data and stores it on Chinese servers. Under Chinese law, the local government can obtain this information upon request.

Additionally, the agency noted that DeepSeek provides different answers to potentially sensitive questions asked in various languages. One example given was a query about the origin of kimchi — a spicy vegetable dish.

When the application was asked about this in Korean, it identified kimchi as a Korean dish. To a similar question in Chinese, the AI responded that the dish was invented in China.

DeepSeek is also accused of censoring political topics such as the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Instead of responding, the artificial intelligence suggests “talking about something else.”

Previously, the Chinese AI application had already been banned in several countries and jurisdictions, including Italy, Taiwan, Australia, Texas, and some US agencies.