The British Minister for Technology, Peter Kyle, stated during an interview in Brussels on Wednesday (January 29th) that “We are carefully reviewing the scale and impact of DeepSeek, ensuring that it complies with relevant regulations.”
DeepSeek, a Chinese company, released an artificial intelligence model called R1 this month, claiming it can rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and has training costs only a fraction of the latter. This free application quickly rose to the top of the Apple App Store rankings after its release, surpassing ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The artificial intelligence model has sparked fear in Silicon Valley and raised concerns about China’s (CCP’s) advancement in the global tech race.
Currently, UK officials are reviewing the impact of the DeepSeek application on national security.
Kyle stated, “The UK has very mature intelligence and security institutions.”
He said, “New technologies and products emerge constantly in the global economy, which is normal. I just want to assure the British public that our existing systems will treat this matter like any other innovation to ensure safety from the outset.”
While Kyle did not provide specific details on the nature of the investigation, it is well-known that the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, as a monitoring body under the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), will scan for future technology risks.
Kyle also believes that the rise of DeepSeek has some positive implications, highlighting the importance of innovation.
He mentioned his Cabinet colleague, Rachel Reeves, who released a series of AI-focused action plans centered around growth on Wednesday.
He stated, “That’s why in the UK… we have launched an AI action plan, why we are enhancing digital capabilities, why we are… announcing strengthened connections between the University of Cambridge and Oxford. We will create one of the world’s largest innovation clusters.”
The sudden emergence of DeepSeek has caught the attention of US national security agencies and prompted investigations by data regulatory bodies in Italy, Germany, Australia, and Ireland.
The American company NewsGuard is a news and information website rating system that provides accuracy ratings for publishers. Their research shows that DeepSeek ranks last in authenticity tests among similar chatbots. The research also found that some responses from the chatbot act as a “mouthpiece” for China (CCP).
On Wednesday, New York-based cybersecurity company Wiz stated they discovered a large amount of sensitive data from DeepSeek inadvertently exposed on the open internet.
Italy’s data regulatory body, Garante, disclosed on Tuesday that they have sent a request to DeepSeek to disclose the collected personal data, data sources, usage methods, legal basis under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation for processing this data, and whether this data is stored on servers within China, among other details. DeepSeek and its affiliated companies have been given 20 days to respond.
Germany’s data protection agency is also growing more concerned about this application, with Zeit reporting that authorities are investigating potential regulatory measures, starting with a formal inquiry into the company’s data processing practices.
On Tuesday, Australian Minister of Industry and Technology Ed Husic expressed concerns about DeepSeek’s data privacy management and urged Australian users to proceed with caution before downloading.
He told the ABC, “If there are many questions about quality, consumer preferences, data, and privacy management that need immediate answers, I will be very cautious. These types of issues require careful consideration.” He noted that Chinese companies sometimes differ from Western competitors in user privacy and data management.
On Wednesday, Ireland’s regulatory body also stated in a release that “The Data Protection Commission has written to DeepSeek requesting information on data processing related to data subjects in Ireland.”
(Reference: This article was based on reporting from POLITICO)