Deepseek
Chinese DeepSeek AI chatbot was quick to get everyone’s attention, but soon that attention turned negative. It has found itself in the middle of a data collection controversy. Now, it is under investigation in Europe and has been removed from the App Store and Play Store in Italy. This comes after the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) raised concerns about the company’s data collection and storage practices.
Euroconsumers, a consumer rights group, filed a complaint against DeepSeek. It questioned the handling of personal data by DeepSeek AI. In response to this query, Italy’s DPA requested detailed information from DeepSeek about its data storage practices and gave the company 20 days to reply. However, according to the officials, DeepSeek’s initial response was inadequate. This prompted the Italian authorities to levy a ban on DeepSeek AI processing data from Italian users.
What’s concerning here is that DeepSeek’s privacy policy mentions that user data may be stored on servers in China. Although the company asserts compliance with relevant data protection laws, the Italian authorities raised concerns about cybersecurity, privacy risks, and the potential for disinformation. This not only led to actions by the Italian regulators but has also caught the attention of other countries across the EU. Authorities have sent out warnings asking for adherence to strict AI and data protection laws.
For those unaware, DeepSeek AI is a new chatbot in the market that has been developed in China. It quickly topped download charts in several countries, including the US. However, questions have emerged regarding its ethical development and handling of data. Critics suggest that DeepSeek may have trained its AI models by learning from US models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT—a process known as distillation—which raises concerns about data extraction methods.