Chinese startup firm DeepSeek shocked the tech world recently after rolling out an AI rival product good enough to take over other leading tech companies.
The launch saw shares of different companies as it rose to the top spot on Apple’s App Store. This prompted replies from different AI companies in the West as well as governments and agencies including NASA.
While it might have people thinking twice about how AI products can be made with great efficiency at a fraction of the cost, it’s raising major concerns about security and privacy. This is major news considering we’re seeing TikTok in limbo across the US over similar concerns of having links to the Chinese Government.
Many lawmakers are not letting this one go. People are talking about using AI models by various Chinese firms such as DeepSeek. For instance, a Republican Senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley says that a new bill might soon jail those seen using AI offerings from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek.
Soon after that, a new report from cybersecurity giant Feroot Security says that signing up could obfuscate codes during account creation. After logging in, it sends users’ data to another Chinese telecom firm that’s banned from carrying out operations in America since the start of 2019, thanks to concerns about national security.
We already know that stores of DeepSeek stores users’ data on Chinese servers. The firm admitted that this was true and mentioned it in its privacy policy. But the mindboggling fact to remember here is how it’s not just linked to data storage in China.
The AI software is being used for deobfuscating hidden codes inside DeepSeek and unraveling data transfers to CMPassport.com. This is the official account for managing China Mobile which is owned and used by the government of China.
It seems like users keep getting fingerprinted and such fingerprints are designed to track the activity of users, not limited to websites on DeepSeek but others as well that are frequently visited.
In reply to such developments, Senator Josh shared how such behavior cannot be overlooked and is a matter of great alarm. Moreover, calls for a quick ban on DeepSeeks should be made for devices owned by government employees.
Other lawmakers are similarly taking notice and more calls are being made for questionable patterns of data collection. Therefore, such apps must be used at their own risk.
Image: Saradasish Pradhan/Unsplash
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The launch saw shares of different companies as it rose to the top spot on Apple’s App Store. This prompted replies from different AI companies in the West as well as governments and agencies including NASA.
While it might have people thinking twice about how AI products can be made with great efficiency at a fraction of the cost, it’s raising major concerns about security and privacy. This is major news considering we’re seeing TikTok in limbo across the US over similar concerns of having links to the Chinese Government.
Many lawmakers are not letting this one go. People are talking about using AI models by various Chinese firms such as DeepSeek. For instance, a Republican Senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley says that a new bill might soon jail those seen using AI offerings from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek.
Soon after that, a new report from cybersecurity giant Feroot Security says that signing up could obfuscate codes during account creation. After logging in, it sends users’ data to another Chinese telecom firm that’s banned from carrying out operations in America since the start of 2019, thanks to concerns about national security.
We already know that stores of DeepSeek stores users’ data on Chinese servers. The firm admitted that this was true and mentioned it in its privacy policy. But the mindboggling fact to remember here is how it’s not just linked to data storage in China.
The AI software is being used for deobfuscating hidden codes inside DeepSeek and unraveling data transfers to CMPassport.com. This is the official account for managing China Mobile which is owned and used by the government of China.
It seems like users keep getting fingerprinted and such fingerprints are designed to track the activity of users, not limited to websites on DeepSeek but others as well that are frequently visited.
In reply to such developments, Senator Josh shared how such behavior cannot be overlooked and is a matter of great alarm. Moreover, calls for a quick ban on DeepSeeks should be made for devices owned by government employees.
Other lawmakers are similarly taking notice and more calls are being made for questionable patterns of data collection. Therefore, such apps must be used at their own risk.
Read next: ChatGPT Users Don’t Have to Sign Up to Use The AI Tool for Search
