Italy Blocks Chinese Chatbot DeepSeek

The Italian regulator has obstructed a Chinese application with built-in synthetic intelligence DeepSeek.

This was reported by the regional regulator Garante.

The emergency order entered into impact right away to safeguard the personal data of Italians.

The choice comes 2 days after Italy sent a request about how DeepSeek uses users’ personal information. The regional regulator asked what data is gathered, why, and whether it is kept in China. However, the Chinese company’s reaction was deemed “totally inadequate”. They said they do not operate in Italy and that European law does not apply to them.

The DeepSeek app has been missing from digital stores in Italy given that January 29. The web variation, nevertheless, remained available – and it is still offered today.

The Italian paper la Repubblica composes that the main page of DeepSeek states that usersʼ individual information is kept on servers in China, the material of chats with the bot can be utilized to train its algorithms, and the service should not be utilized by kids under 14. However, the Italian regulator asked for extra details, which it did not get.

What is DeepSeek?

On January 27, DeepSeek surpassed ChatGPT to become the most popular complimentary app on the App Store. On the very same day, the Chinese chatbot was subjected to a large-scale cyberattack.

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, a 40-year-old graduate of the School of Information and Electronic Engineering. He established a shop for Nvidia A100 chips, which are now banned from being exported to China. Media reports recommend that this may have triggered him to DeepSeek, integrating those chips with less expensive, lower-end ones that are still offered for import.

DeepSeek is based on the open-source DeepSeek-V3 model. Some specialists state that the design was developed for less than $6 million – rivals invest a lot more. However, other professionals dispute this details.