The defense ministry told Bloomberg News on Thursday that it has taken “necessary preemptive measures” on computers used at work due to security and technical concerns over generative AI services.
The South Korean government is conducting a security review of the service, the foreign ministry said, declining to confirm what specific safety measures it has taken. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has temporarily restricted access to DeepSeek in computers that can connect externally, it said in a text message to Bloomberg News.Companies and government agencies around the world have taken precautionary measures to limit access to DeepSeek due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and weak privacy safeguards.
Australia has banned DeepSeek AI services from all government systems and devices, while Italy ordered for it to be blocked to protect consumers’ data. Ireland has asked for more information from the company over potential breaches of European Union privacy law.
Japan already effectively bans the use of generative AI services for any government devices handling highly sensitive information, though it’s up to each ministry to decide on usage for other devices, according to Digital Transformation Minister Masaaki Taira.
China’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hundreds of private companies have also taken the precautionary measure of blocking access to DeepSeek, Bloomberg News reported last week.
The Chinese AI was developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., and competes with the more-established ChatGPT service from OpenAI Inc. in the US.
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