After Italy, another country restricts access to DeepSeek: Consecutive bans on Chinese AI

Allegations that the Chinese company DeepSeek collects user data have prompted the South Korean Ministry of Environment to take action. According to the 'emergency measure' decision taken by the ministry, the use of DeepSeek's artificial intelligence models on institutional devices has been banned. The ministry blocked access to DeepSeek from institutional computers at 09:00 local time.

The South Korean Ministry of the Interior had issued a circular on January 31 to government agencies, urging caution in the use of artificial intelligence applications such as DeepSeek and ChatGPT.

According to Yonhap news, the following was noted in the statement made by the Ministry:

''Intelligence officials have requested caution in the use of DeepSeek as its personal data collection system is not yet fully understood.''

THE NETHERLANDS BANS DEEPSEEK IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

Dutch State Secretary for Digitalization and Kingdom Relations Zsolt Szabo stated that the use of DeepSeek on government-owned devices has been banned. The AI application DeepSeek was described as an "espionage-prone application," and it was noted that its use on public devices was banned for this reason.

According to a report by the Public Broadcaster (NOS), the usage ban on DeepSeek applies to central government devices, and it was stated that local governments could introduce similar restrictions for their own employees.

In a statement made last week by the Dutch Data Protection Authority, a call was made for DeepSeek to be used carefully and cautiously.

WHAT IS DEEPSEEK?

Funded by the China-based investment fund High-Flyer Capital Management, DeepSeek released its new open-source artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, on January 20, which was developed at a cost of 5.5 million dollars.

R1 attracted attention for being cheaper than its competitors in the sector and for being released as 'open source.' DeepSeek, which saw a large number of users register worldwide in a short time, surpassed the US-based ChatGPT in app stores to become the most downloaded artificial intelligence application.

The US Navy, the state of Texas, Italy, and Australia had previously taken similar restriction and ban decisions regarding DeepSeek as South Korea.

News Source: AA