SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s industry ministry has temporarily banned employee access to Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek due to security concerns, a ministry official said on Wednesday, as the government urges caution on generative AI services.
The government issued a notice on Tuesday calling for ministries and agencies to exercise caution about using AI services including DeepSeek and ChatGPT at work, officials said.
State-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said it had blocked use of AI services including DeepSeek earlier this month.
Tech giant Kakao Corp has told its employees to refrain from using DeepSeek due to security concerns, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The temporary ban makes South Korea the latest government to warn about DeepSeek.
Last month, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers called on Australians to be cautious when using the Chinese AI model while U.S. officials are also looking at DeepSeek’s national security implications.
South Korea’s information privacy watchdog plans to ask DeepSeek about how the personal information of users is managed.
Chinese startup DeepSeek’s launch of its latest AI models sent shockwaves through the tech world. The company says its models are on a par or better than products developed in the United States at a fraction of the cost.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Joyce Lee, Hyonhee Shin, writing by Ju-min Park; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Kate Mayberry)
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