As concerns about the privacy vulnerabilities of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek grow in various countries, our government has decided to send an official inquiry to confirm the legality of DeepSeek's personal information collection.
According to the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) on the 31st, the PIPC plans to send an official inquiry to DeepSeek's headquarters in China that verifies the items and procedures for personal information collection, as well as the methods of processing and storage. The inquiry also includes details on understanding the AI learning process using personal information.
Additionally, it emphasized that regardless of being a foreign operator, Korean Personal Information Protection Act applies when providing services to Korean users, and also included information about the relevant laws.
According to major foreign news outlets, corporations and government agencies worldwide are moving to block access to DeepSeek to prevent personal information and data leakage within their countries.
DeepSeek has announced through its "privacy policy" that it collects users' birth dates, names, email addresses, phone numbers, passwords, and other information for AI model training.
It also specified that it collects keyboard patterns, audio, files, chat records, and other content entered by users, and that the company may share this information with law enforcement and public agencies at its discretion.
DeepSeek stated, "The information collected in this way is stored on secure servers in China."