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South Korean ministries and authorities blocking DeepSeek's access to work computer systems

South Korean ministries and cops said Thursday they were blocking DeepSeek's access to their computers, after the Chinese AI start-up did not react to a data guard dog request about how it handles user details.

DeepSeek released its R1 chatbot last month, claiming it matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pacesetters in the United States for a fraction of the investment, upending the worldwide industry.

South Korea, along with nations such as France and disgaeawiki.info Italy, have actually asked about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for details about how the business handles user details.

But after DeepSeek failed to react to an enquiry from South Korea's information guard dog, a multitude of ministries verified Thursday they were taking steps to limit access to avoid prospective leakages of delicate details through generative AI services.

"Blocking procedures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military job-related PCs with Internet," a defence ministry official told AFP.

The ministry, which oversees active-duty soldiers released against the nuclear-armed North, has likewise "repeated the security safety measures regarding using generative AI for each system and soldier, taking into consideration security and technical concerns", it added.

South Korea's cops informed AFP they had also blocked access to DeepSeek, while the trade ministry said that gain access to had actually been temporarily restricted on all its PCs.

The trade, finance, unification and foreign ministries also all said they had blocked the app or had actually taken unspecified procedures.

- Bans 'not extreme' -

Recently, Italy launched an investigation into DeepSeek's R1 design and obstructed it from processing Italian users' data.

Australia has actually also banned DeepSeek from all federal government devices on the guidance of security firms.

Kim Jong-hwa, a teacher at Cheju Halla University's expert system department, told AFP that amid growing rivalry between the United States and China he believed "political aspects" might be influencing the reaction to DeepSeek-- however said bans were still justified.

"From a technical perspective, AI models like ChatGPT likewise face various security-related issues that have actually not yet been completely dealt with," he said.

"Considered that China runs under a communist routine, I question whether they consider security concerns as much as OpenAI does when developing ingenious technologies," he said.

"We can not currently examine how much attention has actually been paid to security concerns by DeepSeek when developing its chatbot. Therefore, I believe that taking proactive procedures is not too extreme."

Beijing on Thursday hit back against the restriction, firmly insisting the Chinese government "will never need enterprises or people to unlawfully gather or save data".

"China has always opposed the generalisation of nationwide security and the politicisation of economic, trade and technological problems," foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

Beijing would also "securely safeguard the genuine rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," Guo promised.

- 'Complex competition' -

DeepSeek states it uses less-advanced H800 chips-- allowed for sale to China up until 2023 under US export controls-- to power its big learning design.

South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are essential suppliers of innovative chips used in AI servers.

The government revealed on Wednesday an additional 34 trillion won ($23.5 billion) investment in semiconductors and high-tech markets, with the nation's acting president advising Korean tech companies to remain versatile.

"Recently, a Chinese business revealed the AI design DeepSeek R1, which uses high efficiency at a low expense, making a fresh impact in the market," acting President Choi Sang-mok said Wednesday.

"The global AI competitors may develop from a simple infrastructure scale-up rivalry to a more complicated competitors that includes software application capabilities and other elements."