DeepSeek threw a big spanner in the works for American AI at the beginning of the year. The models developed by the Chinese company have proven to be as effective as the best American rivals, for a fraction of the cost. Its success has been resounding: the application has risen to the top of the rankings of the Apple and Google stores - it has since fallen back a little, but remains in the top 10.
Security fears
But DeepSeek also raises security and privacy concerns. So much so that the app has been pulled from stores in Italy and South Korea, due to regulators' concerns about protecting confidential data. Australia, Canada and Taiwan have also banned DeepSeek from government devices.
The issue is also being raised at the White House. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration is considering banning DeepSeek from government devices due to security concerns. and the security of data stored in China. The app has not adequately explained how it uses the data it collects or who has access to it.
While government workers are likely to be banned from downloading the app to government-issued smartphones, U.S. officials are also reportedly considering banning DeepSeek from the App Store and Play Store. Another move being considered is imposing limits on U.S.-based cloud service providers who can offer DeepSeek’s AI models to their customers.
These restrictions may be harder to implement than an App Store ban. DeepSeek’s models are open-source, meaning they are freely available and usable by anyone. Companies can run these models on their own servers, preventing anyone from collecting data. Perplexity, which offers DeepSeek’s models to its customers, hosts them in American data centers, independent of any connection to the Chinese company.
This is currently an ongoing consideration. But given the way the current administration is handling TikTok (it’s chaos), it’s hard to really know what’s in store for DeepSeek.
Source: WSJ
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