Worried About Data Security: Global Companies Block Access To AI DeepSek Chatbot From China

The DeepSek application from China (Unplash)

JAKARTA - Hundreds of companies in various countries prohibit their employees from using China's artificial intelligence chatbot (AI), DeepSeek, due to concerns about leakage of user data.

Armis Inc's Head of Technology, Nadir Izrael, revealed that many companies, especially those related to the government, have blocked access to DeepSeek for fear user data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

Izrael also noted that around 70% of Armis' clients had filed a blocking of the chatbot.

"The main concern is the possibility of data being processed by this AI model falling into the hands of the Chinese government. There is no guarantee where the information will end," said Izrael, quoted from the Financial Post, Sunday, February 2.

Similar reports also come from Netskope Inc, a security service provider that helps the company control employee access to specific websites. About 52% of Netskope clients have reportedly blocked access to DeepSek.

In recent times, DeepSeek's popularity has increased rapidly to rank at the top on the App Store and Play Store.

However, this surge in users is also accompanied by concerns regarding data security, because the application stores user information on servers located in China. Many parties consider this to increase the risk of data leakage to the Chinese government.

DeepSek comes as an alternative AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, and is supported by the V3 model made in China. This application allows users to analyze documents, answer questions, and obtain information from the internet. Users can also upload files and sync conversation history on various devices.

Although DeepSek is currently at the peak of AI chatbot competition, to be able to beat OpenAI's ChatGPT in the long term, the app needs to reach 300 million weekly active users.

China's AI DeepSek has also attracted the attention of the industry in recent days, with several start-ups such as Perplexity and Gloo, which are owned by Intel's former CEO, Pat Gelsinger, known to have integrated DeepSek into their systems.