DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while collaborating with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South Korean officials confirmed Monday.
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission reported that DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the local versions of Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Saturday evening. The company has committed to working with the agency to enhance privacy protections before reintroducing the apps.
The suspension does not impact users who have already downloaded DeepSeek on their devices or access it via personal computers. Nam Seok, director of the commission’s investigation division, advised users in South Korea to delete the app or avoid inputting personal data until the privacy issues are resolved.
DeepSeek gained global attention last month for claiming it developed its popular chatbot at a fraction of the cost incurred by U.S. companies. The announcement disrupted markets and intensified debates over AI development competition between the U.S. and China.
Many South Korean government agencies and businesses have blocked DeepSeek from their networks or restricted its use for work, citing concerns about the AI model’s potential to collect sensitive data.
The South Korean privacy commission began reviewing DeepSeek’s services last month, discovering that the company lacked transparency regarding third-party data transfers and may have collected excessive personal information, according to Nam.
While the commission could not estimate the exact number of South Korean DeepSeek users, Wiseapp Retail’s analysis indicated approximately 1.2 million smartphone users engaged with the app in late January, making it the second-most-popular AI model in the region after ChatGPT.
Source: Swifteradio.com
