South Korea's data watchdog will question the Chinese startup DeepSeek about its handling of user data after launching its new AI chatbot, R1. The chatbot claims to rival U.S. AI leaders while requiring much less investment.

The investigation follows concerns about DeepSeek’s data practices, with South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission requesting details on how the company manages personal data. An official confirmed a formal request will be made by Friday.

DeepSeek’s R1 model has also caught the attention of other nations. Italy launched an inquiry into the chatbot and blocked its processing of Italian users' data. The Italian Data Protection Agency is examining how data is used to train the AI system and whether users are informed if their data is scraped from the internet.

In France, the CNIL watchdog has announced plans to question DeepSeek about its AI operations and data protection risks.

DeepSeek uses the H800 chips, which were sold to China until 2023 under U.S. export restrictions, to power its AI model. This has raised concerns, particularly among South Korea’s chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix, which supply advanced chips for AI servers.

In response to these developments, South Korean stocks were hit hard, with Samsung dropping over 2% and SK Hynix falling nearly 12% on Friday.

Channelstv