Due to the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup's alleged security risks, Australia has barred DeepSeek from all government networks and devices.
When DeepSeek revealed a chatbot in January that matched the performance of its US competitors while claiming a significantly cheaper training cost, the globe was taken aback.
Global financial markets lost billions of dollars, notably in Australia, where AI-related businesses, such chipmaker Brainchip, plummeted overnight.
The Australian government has maintained that the app's "unacceptable risk" to national security is the reason for the ban, not its Chinese roots.
DeepSeek has been approached for comment.
In particular, Australia's action mandates that all government organizations "prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services" and remove those that have already been installed on any government device or system.
This implies that many workers in the nation, including those employed by the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australia Electoral Commission, will not be able to use the tools.
It's unclear if this would indicate that DeepSeek would not be allowed on public computers in certain sectors of the economy, such schools.
Devices owned by private individuals are exempt from the prohibition.
Growing - and familiar - concerns
Western countries have a track record of being suspicious of Chinese tech - notably telecoms firm Huawei and the social media platform, TikTok - both of which have been restricted on national security grounds.
The initial reaction to DeepSeek - which quickly became the most downloaded free app in the UK and US - appeared to be different.
President Donald Trump described it as a "wake up call" for the US but said overall it could be a positive development, if it lowered AI costs.
Since then, though, doubts about it have started to be voiced.
An Australian science minister previously said in January that countries needed to be "very careful" about DeepSeek, citing "data and privacy" concerns.
After the chatbot's privacy policy was questioned in Italy, it was taken down from app stores. In March 2023, the Italian government temporarily suspended ChatGPT due to privacy concerns.
Regulators in France, Ireland, and South Korea have all started looking into DeepSeek's handling of user data, which is stored on Chinese servers.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, has also stated that the United States is currently investigating potential security ramifications.
The US Navy has reportedly banned its members from using DeepSeek - though it has not confirmed this to the BBC.
Generally, AI tools will analyse the prompts sent to them to improve their product.
This is true of apps such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini as much as it is DeepSeek.
All of them gather and keep information, including email addresses and dates of birth.
However, security experts have previously warned that anyone working on confidential or national security areas needs to be aware of the risk of whatever they enter into chatbots being kept and analysed by the developers of those tools.
Additionally, DeepSeek has been accused of unjustly using US technology.
OpenAI has expressed dissatisfaction over competitors, notably those in China, utilizing its research to advance their own products more quickly.
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