Following the emergence of the Chinese-owned artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek, concerns have been raised over the company's EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance practices.
Among the regulators interested in the rapid rise of DeepSeek, both the Italian and Irish data protection authorities (DPAs) have formally requested information about how the company processes the personal data of Italian and Irish citizens.
According to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said that they have written to DeepSeek "requesting information on the data processing conducted in relation to data subjects in Ireland."
The DPC letter was sent less than 24 hours after the Italian DPA, the Garante, sent a similar letter to the company. In comments given to Italian news agency ANSA, Pasquale Stanzione, head of the Garante, said, "Our office will launch an in-depth investigation to see if GDPR rules are being respected." The development has led to DeepSeek being removed temporarily from Google and Apple app stores in the country.
Meanwhile, in the US, Reuters reports that Microsoft and OpenAI are making enquiries about whether any of its technology was obtained in an unauthorised manner by a group linked to DeepSeek.
Additional reporting is available from IAPP.
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