Government ministers have raised privacy concerns over China’s breakout artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot DeepSeek, urging users to think carefully about using it.
Developed by a China-based technology startup, the DeepSeek chatbot has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last week.
Praised for its ability to match Western competitors at a fraction of the cost, it has surged to the top of app download charts, displacing market leader ChatGPT.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said while there were opportunities for AI, users needed to be cautious about the information they pass on.
“It’s fine to talk to the app, but perhaps don’t give it personal information that you don’t want the rest of the world to know,” O’Neil, the former cyber security minister, told Seven’s Sunrise program on Wednesday.
“What our national security agencies will be doing at the moment is having a look at the settings of the app and understanding more about how it works before it issues some formal guidance to Australians.”
Clare O’Neil said she wouldn’t be downloading DeepSeek and would continue to be a “ChatGPT girl” at this stage. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Opposition finance spokesperson Jane Hume said the government needed to make any security concerns about the use of DeepSeek public.
“It’s overtaken ChatGPT, we would urge caution on this one. Take our advice from the security experts, and we hope that the government will make that advice explicit,” she told Sunrise.
O’Neil said she would wait on formal security advice.
“Whatever you may think about it, the future is coming at us, so I think it’s important that we do understand these tools and learn how to use them,” she said.
“I’m not downloading [DeepSeek], I’m a ChatGPT girl at this stage.”
Science Minister Ed Husic also urged caution.
“There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered in time on quality, consumer preferences, data and privacy management,” Husic told the ABC on Tuesday.
“I would be very careful about that. These types of issues need to be weighed up carefully.”
Husic said Chinese companies sometimes differed from Western rivals when it came to user privacy and data management.
“The Chinese are very good at developing products that work very well. That market is accustomed to their approaches on data and privacy,” he said.
“The minute you export it to markets where consumers have different expectations around privacy and data management, the question is whether those products will be embraced in the same way.
“I think you have to be careful, I’m just being completely frank and direct on that.”
In 2018, Australia banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G network, citing national security concerns.
Australia’s newly announced chief scientist Tony Haymet had a less cautious tone than Husic, saying DeepSeek’s infiltration showed “how disruptive technology can be and how quickly things can happen”.
DeepSeek has overtaken US competitor ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application on the Apple app store. Source: AAP / Andy Wong
“I view AI as a great opportunity. I think it’s a great export opportunity for Australia, because AI needs electricity, and most of the world is demanding that we deliver AI with renewable electricity, and Australia is perfectly set up for that,” Haymet said at a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday.
Haymet said, based on his international experience, Australia was well placed and sought to allay fear.
“I don’t think we should be afraid … we’re already doing great stuff,” he said.
“We have a terrific governance regime. I think we’re going to be able to keep our communities safer from the potential perils of AI than many other nations.
“I don’t have a concern that we’re going to be over-regulated. I think we’re going to get it right.”
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Hangzhou-based startup owned and funded by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer.
Earlier this month, the company released a free chatbot assistant powered by the DeepSeek-V3 model to app stores. The app has surged in popularity since.
The startup says its models are on par with the United States competitors such ChatGPT makers OpenAI and Meta’s most advanced models but are more efficient in their use of the Nvidia processor chips that are used to build and run AI systems.
By 2022, DeepSeek said it had amassed 10,000 of California-based Nvidia’s high-performance A100 graphics processor chips.
The US restricted sales of those chips to China shortly after. DeepSeek has said its recent models were built with Nvidia’s lower-performing H800 chips, which are not banned in China.
Some have expressed scepticism about DeepSeek’s resources. On Monday, analysts from Bernstein Research highlighted in a research note that DeepSeek’s total training costs for its V3 model were unknown but were much higher than what the startup said was used for computing power.
