South Korea’s chief spy agency National Intelligence Service (NIS) has accused the Chinese AI app DeepSeek of “excessively” gathering personal data and using all user inputs for self-training.
The intelligence agency also raised concerns over DeepSeek‘s responses to questions about matters of national pride.
Security Precautions Advised
The NIS said it sent an official notice to South Korea’s government agencies last week urging them to take security precautions over the DeepSeek AI app.
“Unlike other generative AI services, it has been confirmed that chat records are transferable as it includes a function to collect keyboard input patterns that can identify individuals and communicate with Chinese companies’ servers such as volceapplog.com,” the NIS said in a statement issued on Sunday.
Ministries Restrict Access
Some government ministries in South Korea have blocked access to the app citing security concerns, joining Australia and Taiwan in warning about or placing restrictions on DeepSeek.
The NIS said DeepSeek gives advertisers unlimited access to user data and stores South Korean users’ data in Chinese servers.
Under Chinese law, the Chinese government would be able to access such information when requested, the agency added.
Inconsistent Answers
DeepSeek also provided different answers to potentially sensitive questions in different languages, the NIS noted.
It cited one such question as asking for the origin of kimchi – a spicy, fermented dish that is a staple in South Korea.
When asked about it in Korean, the app said kimchi is a Korean dish, the NIS said.
Asked the same question in Chinese, it said the dish originated from China, it said. DeepSeek’s responses were corroborated by Reuters.
The origin of kimchi has at times been a source of contention between South Koreans and Chinese social media users in recent years.
Censoring Responses
DeepSeek has also been accused of censoring responses to political questions such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which prompted the app to suggest changing the subject: “Let’s talk about something else.”
DeepSeek did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. When asked about moves by South Korean government departments to block DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a briefing on February 6 that the Chinese government attached great importance to data privacy and security and protected it in accordance with the law.
The spokesperson also said Beijing would never ask any company or individual to collect or store data in breach of laws.
(With inputs from Reuters)
