Hundreds of firms blocking staff access to DeepSeek's AI model

Potential data leaks to Chinese govt, weak privacy protection among reasons

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Companies and government agencies around the world are moving to restrict their employees' access to the tools released recently by the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek, according to the cybersecurity firms hired to help protect their systems.

Hundreds of companies, particularly those associated with governments, have worked to block access to DeepSeek due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards, said Mr Nadir Izrael, chief technology officer of cyber firm Armis, referring to the start-up's own clientele.

Most customers of Netskope, a network security firm that companies use to restrict employees' access to websites, among other services, are similarly moving to limit connections.

Roughly 70 per cent of Armis customers have requested blocks, the company said, and 52 per cent of Netskope clients are blocking access to the site entirely, according to Mr Ray Canzanese, director of Netskope's threat labs.

"The biggest concern is the AI model's potential data leakage to the Chinese government," Mr Izrael said. "You don't know where your information goes."

Anxieties around DeepSeek have mounted since the weekend when praise from high-profile tech executives propelled DeepSeek's AI chatbot to the top of Apple Store app downloads.

Chief among those worries is the fact that DeepSeek states in its privacy terms that it collects and stores data in servers in China, adding that any dispute on the matter would be governed by Chinese government law.