CNA Explains: Are countries banning DeepSeek for legitimate ...

SINGAPORE: In recent weeks, several countries have moved to ban or restricted China's breakout artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek-R1, citing privacy and security concerns. The start-up caused a stir in the global AI industry last month with the launch of a low-cost chatbot said to be on par with or better than existing options. And DeepSeek said it spent only US$5.6 million to develop the model - a fraction of the billions spent by industry-leading competitors in the United States. DeepSeek's AI Assistant eventually overtook OpenAI's ChatGPT as the top-rated free app on Apple's US app store. That same day, nearly US$600 billion was wiped off the market value of US chipmaker Nvidia, whose semiconductors power the AI industry. It was a record one-day loss for any company on Wall Street. Australia has banned DeepSeek on the advice of security agencies, with a government official...