February 10, 2025
SEOUL – South Korea’s National Intelligence Service on Sunday issued a warning against using open-source large language model DeepSeek-R1, saying the Chinese service collects extensive amounts of private data and stores them on servers in China indefinitely.
The NIS, which oversees cybersecurity operations, said in a release that DeepSeek was found to track and collect “excessive” data from its users, such as chat logs and keystrokes.
This personal data was being shared with advertisers as well as other corporate and legal affiliates without giving users an opt-out option, the NIS said.
The NIS also noted that DeepSeek’s terms and conditions indicated that users’ data may be saved for an indefinite period of time on Chinese servers. Based on local laws in China, this data could be provided to the Chinese government if requested, the NIS warned.
The NIS added that unlike other generative AI services, DeepSeek appeared to offer “inconsistent” responses when asked about topics considered sensitive historically and otherwise by Beijing.
Over the past week, South Korean government ministries and municipal offices have blocked DeepSeek over security breach conerns.