An Oxford professor has advised against uploading personal data on this platform, as it could be shared with the Chinese government.
Experts have raised concerns about the rapid adoption of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI platform, fearing it could spread misinformation and that the Chinese government might misuse users’ data. This new, low-cost AI has wiped out $1 trillion from major US tech stock indices this week and has quickly become the most downloaded free app in the UK and the US. Donald Trump called it a “wake-up call” for tech firms.
Its emergence has stunned the tech world. It demonstrates the ability to achieve performance similar to widely used platforms like ChatGPT but at a much lower cost.
Professor Michael Wooldridge, a foundation professor of AI at Oxford University, stated that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the data entered into chatbots could be shared with the Chinese government. He said, “I think it’s fine to download it and ask about Liverpool Football Club’s performance or discuss the history of the Roman Empire, but would I recommend putting anything sensitive, personal, or private on it? Not… because you don’t know where the data goes.”
Dame Wendy Hall, a member of the UN’s high-level advisory body, told The Guardian, “You can’t escape the fact that if you’re a Chinese tech company dealing with information, you’re subject to Chinese government regulations about what you can and can’t say.” Ross Burley, co-founder of the Centre for Information Resilience, partially funded by the US and UK governments, added, “We should be worried. We’ve seen time and again how Beijing weaponizes its technological dominance for surveillance, control, and coercion both at home and abroad.” He emphasized that, if left unchecked, it could “promote misinformation campaigns, erode public trust, and strengthen authoritarian narratives within our democracies.”
When asked about whether Downing Street would avoid using Chinese AI, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson said they would not comment on specific models. However, they acknowledged that progress indicates the UK needs to “move forward and innovate more quickly to overcome the barriers to AI.”
DeepSeek is an open-source platform, meaning software developers can customize it for their purposes. This has sparked a new wave of AI innovation, which had previously been dominated by American tech companies relying heavily on investments in microchips, data centers, and new energy sources. Wooldridge remarked, “It sends a very strong signal if anyone hasn’t gotten the message, that China is not behind in this area.”
Some users who tested DeepSeek found that it wouldn’t answer questions about sensitive topics, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre. When asked about Taiwan’s status, it repeated the Chinese Communist Party’s line that the island is an “indivisible” part of China. Hall stated, “The biggest issue with generative AI is misinformation. It depends on the data in the model, the biases in that data, and how it’s used. You can see this problem with the DeepSeek chatbot.”
One user, AI expert Azim Azhar, asked about the events at Tiananmen Square and was told that DeepSeek could not provide detailed information and that “this topic is highly sensitive and often censored in many countries, including China.” However, the AI clarified that the events were “widely recognized as the suppression of pro-democracy protests” and added, “The Chinese government took violent action, resulting in the deaths of hundreds (or possibly thousands) of people, including both protesters and soldiers.”
People use AI models like DeepSeek and ChatGPT to assist with processing personal documents for work, such as meeting minutes. However, anything uploaded can be taken by the company and used to train the AI or for other purposes.
DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, clearly states in its privacy policy that any personal information collected from users is stored on secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China. It also mentions that it uses this data to “comply with our legal obligations, or act in the public interest, or protect the vital interests of our users and others.”
China’s national intelligence law stipulates that all enterprises, organizations, and citizens must “support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.”
