The South Korean government said Monday it temporarily suspended new downloads of an artificial intelligence chatbot created by Deepseek, a Chinese company that sent shockwaves into the world of high-tech.
On Monday night, the app was not available on the Korean Apple or Google App Store, but Deepseek was still accessible through a web browser. The regulator said app services will resume after ensuring they comply with South Korean laws regarding the protection of personal information.
China’s chatbot has smashed the charts of most downloaded apps around the world since its release last month. The app has an AI system built at a fraction of its cost, with performance comparable to top products created by American companies.
The claim that Deepseek built the technology with much less expensive computer chips than companies normally use, caused a fall over our tech stocks last month, and Washington tried to block access to such chips. It sparked debate as to whether the attempt had failed.
Deepseek’s success has put a lesser-known company in the spotlight, backed by stock trading companies. In China, Deepseek is being told as the country’s high-tech industry hero. The company’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, met with other high-tech executives on Monday with China’s top leader Xi Jinping.
But outside of China, the popularity of the app is worrying about regulators over DeepSeek’s security, censorship and the management of sensitive data.
The app has become one of the most popular downloads in Korea in the Artificial Intelligence category. Earlier this month, South Korea instructed many government officials not to use DeepSeek products on official devices.
Taiwan and Australian government agencies have instructed workers not to use Deepseek products more than security concerns.
The South Korean Privacy Commission said it has identified issues regarding how the app processes personal information and decided that “it will inevitably take quite a while to fix it.” To address these concerns, Deepseek appointed an agent in South Korea last week, regulators said.
The Chinese government has always required Chinese companies to conduct overseas operations in strict compliance with local laws and regulations, Guo Zi-Kun, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a briefing on Monday.
“We also hope that the relevant countries will avoid avoiding approaches that generalize and politicize economic, trade and technology issues,” Guo said.
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