The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has written to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek amid concerns over the processing of Irish people’s data.
DeepSeek’s AI chatbot has taken the tech world by storm and has become the most downloaded app in countries around the world, including in Ireland.
Concerns have been expressed that the personal data of users may be stored on servers in China.
“We have written to DeepSeek requesting information on the data processing conducted in relation to data subjects in Ireland,” said Graham Doyle, DPC Deputy Commissioner.
Italy also write to DeepSeek
Italy’s data protection authority has also written to DeepSeek requesting details of its use of personal data.
The Italian regulator, which is also known as the Garante, said it wanted to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis, and whether it is stored in China.
In the US, the White House Press Secretary said officials were looking at the national security implications of the app.
DeepSeek operates in a similar way to AI chatbots like ChatGPT, but the Chinese company claims its model was developed at a fraction of the cost of current AI tools.
US tech giants are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI development but DeepSeek says its latest model cost less than $6 million to train.
It has sparked major concerns about American dominance in AI and led to sharp falls in tech stocks on Monday.
Irish citizens warned to be careful
Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne said that Irish citizens and businesses need to be careful if they decide to use the app amid concerns that any data shared with it will be stored on servers based in China.
“If our data is stored in Ireland or other parts of the European Union, there are strong safeguards in place as to how that data will be used. If data is stored in China, those safeguards does not exist.”
“The Chinese Communist Party can use its National Security Law to access this data,” Mr Byrne said.
“DeepSeek’s privacy policy provides that any personal information gathered through using its product may be stored on servers based in China,” he added.
There are also concerns about Chinese censorship on DeepSeek.
Questions about Taiwan or Tiananmen Square are likely to be met with a response that the query is beyond its current scope and that it wants to talk about something else.
