31st January, 2025

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Governments have begun scrutinizing DeepSeek’s privacy controls

If you’ve downloaded it on your employer’s hardware or network …

… have you done so with your employer’s knowledge and support?

On January 28/25, I wrote here about DeepSeek’s disruptive market launch of January 20/25.

In addition to highlighting DeepSeek’s financial impacts on chip manufacturers, other AI companies, the stock market and investors, I touched on a trio of reasons assistants should pay attention to this entry to the GenAI market.

i wrote about “RISK MANAGEMENT/DATA SECURITY”

That’s one of the topics I noted in the context of awareness of discussions I suggested organisational leaders would be having when it comes to DeepSeek. I wrote, “If you work alongside your organisation’s leaders, it’s likely you’ll be in meetings or conversations with people who are paying attention to and considering this latest tech advance, potential ramifications and risk management/data security.”

Have you, or any of your colleagues, downloaded DeepSeek? If so, are your CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)/IT head and your own principal aware and supportive of such use? If you are using this new resource, whether on your employer’s network and hardware or your own, please feel free to drop a comment about your experience with it.

… and now governments are scrutinizing data privacy controls

It’s impossible to read or watch business news without DeepSeek entering the conversation. This morning, I watched an interview about US Pentagon employees using DeepSeek on their work computers. You can read about how US Pentagon staff – Defense employees – used DeepSeek on work computers for days before the Pentagon blocked such usage.

It’s not only the American government that has such data privacy concerns. The Irish Data Protection Commission is seeking information from DeepSeek to determine whether users’ data is appropriately safeguarded. In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office has stated it would “take action whenever its regulatory expections are ignored”.

In Italy, that country’s privacy regulator has ordered that DeepSeek be blocked “… as a matter of urgency and with immediate effect”, to protect its citizens’ data.

“into the unknown”

That’s the heading on DeepSeek’s home page, and I think it’s apt. As BNN Bloomberg (which I quoted above) reported, “Chief among those worries is the fact that DeepSeek states in its own privacy terms that it collects and stores data in servers in China, adding that any dispute on the matter would be governed by Chinese government law.”

While I enjoy social media and you can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook, I’ve refrained from using Tik Tok because of its ownership. Whatever your thoughts on linkages between Chinese-owned businesses and that country’s government, there’s something else to consider when it comes to Deep Seek.

“LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE.”

To be clear, I’ve not downloaded and am not going to download or use DeepSeek. As such, anything I’m writing about it is gleaned from reading and paying attention to sources who have done so.

DeepSeek has drawn multiple favourable reviews, and comparisons to ChatGPT. It does, however, respond to some queries a little differently. When asked about topics that could be perceived as politically sensitive within its country of origin, people have found the system responds with something to the tune of, “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

You’ll find loads of tech-related career resources here

I’ve been writing about tech, digitization and change in the context of your career for yours – long before DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity and other GenAI products were on our horizons.

Along the way, I’ve done research and shared my own practices while also asking assistants about your tech practices and experiences. Take a moment to have a look at this page on my website for a sampling of what we’ve considered on the tech front since I first began publishing Exceptional EA in 2013. It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come even since 2020, and the days of people helping one another with learning how to use different platforms for virtual meetings.