Hundreds of companies ban Chinese AI 'DeepSeek' due to data leak risk

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, has been making waves by releasing its low-cost, high-performance inference model ' DeepSeek -R1 ,' which has topped the App Store's free app rankings and causedthe stock prices of AI chip manufacturers to plummet . However, it has become clear that hundreds of companies are blocking DeepSeek due to the risk of data leakage.

DeepSeek's AI Restricted by 'Hundreds' of Companies Within Days - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-30/deepseek-s-ai-restricted-by-hundreds-of-companies-within-days

'Hundreds' of companies are blocking DeepSeek over China data risks | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/31/hundreds-of-companies-are-blocking-deepseek-over-china-data-risks/

According to a Bloomberg report, hundreds of companies, especially those with ties to the US government, are blocking DeepSeek-related services. Based on interviews with executives from cybersecurity companies Armis and Netskope , Bloomberg reported that 'hundreds of companies are blocking DeepSeek.' Armis CTO Nadir Israel said, 'Our biggest concern is that AI model data could be leaked to the Chinese government.'

Bloomberg Law, a subscription service offered by Bloomberg that uses data analytics and AI for online legal research, and San Francisco law firm Fox Rothschild both reportedly blocked DeepSeek .

According to DeepSeek's privacy policy , DeepSeek stores all user data on servers in China. Chinese law requires companies to share data with intelligence agencies upon request, so many companies have banned DeepSeek for fear of data leaks.

In addition, after the Italian data protection authority requested information about how the DeepSeek app handles user data, the DeepSeek app disappeared from the Italian app store.

DeepSeek app disappears from Italy's Apple and Google app stores, shortly after Italian Data Protection Authority asks DeepSeek about its use of personal data - GIGAZINE

In the United States, the U.S. Navy was the first to completely ban the use of DeepSeek products, and the Department of Defense has recently banned the use of DeepSeek as well.

The US Navy completely bans the use of AI developed by Chinese company DeepSeek - GIGAZINE

It has also been pointed out that millions of records, including chat histories, were exposed from DeepSeek's database.

DeepSeek database reveals millions of chat histories and other records are vulnerable to leaks - GIGAZINE