South Korea spy agency says DeepSeek 'excessively' collects personal data

South Korea's spy agency has accused Chinese AI app DeepSeek of "excessively" collecting personal data and using all input data to train itself, and questioned the app's responses to questions relating to issues of national pride.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it sent an official notice to government agencies last week urging them to take security precautions over the artificial intelligence app.

"Unlike other generative AI services, it has been confirmed that chat records are transferable as it includes a function to collect keyboard input patterns that can identify individuals and communicate with Chinese companies' servers such as volceapplog.com," the NIS said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Some government ministries in South Korea have blocked access to the app, citing security concerns, joining Australia and Taiwan in warning about or placing restrictions on DeepSeek.

The NIS said DeepSeek gives advertisers unlimited access to user data and stores South Korean users' data in Chinese servers. Under Chinese law, the Chinese government would be able to access such information when requested, the agency added.

DeepSeek also provided different answers to potentially sensitive questions in different languages, the NIS noted.

It cited one such question as asking for the origin of kimchi - a spicy, fermented dish that is a staple in South Korea.

When asked about it in Korean, the app said kimchi is a Korean dish, the NIS said.

Asked the same question in Chinese, it said the dish originated from China, it said. DeepSeek's responses were corroborated by Reuters.

The origin of kimchi has at times been a source of contention between South Koreans and Chinese social media users in recent years.

DeepSeek has also been accused of censoring responses to political questions such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which prompt the app to suggest changing the subject: "Let's talk about something else."

DeepSeek did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

When asked about moves by South Korean government departments to block DeepSeek, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a briefing on February 6 that the Chinese government attached great importance to data privacy and security and protected it in accordance with the law.

The spokesperson also said Beijing would never ask any company or individual to collect or store data in breach of laws.