"Security risk"

Australia prohibits authorities from using DeepSeek

Australian Home Affairs Minister Stephanie Foster spoke of an "unacceptable security risk".(Bild: APA/AP/Andy Wong)

China has rejected Australia's accusations of espionage in connection with the AI app DeepSeek. "The Chinese government has never and will never ask companies or individuals to illegally collect or store data," the foreign ministry in Beijing said on Wednesday.

The ministry accused the government in Canberra of "politicizing economic, trade and technology issues". The Australian authorities had previously banned the use of DeepSeek with state-owned smartphones and computers. Australian Home Affairs Minister Stephanie Foster spoke of an "unacceptable security risk". From Wednesday, DeepSeek applications will have to be removed from all computers and mobile devices used by Australian government employees.

"This is an action that the government has taken on the advice of the security agencies" and "absolutely not a symbolic step", government cyber security commissioner Andrew Charlton told the ABC. "We don't want to expose government systems to these applications." Possible risks include unauthorized access to personal data and the penetration of malware into government systems.

Other countries also concerned about data handling
At the end of January, the AI assistant DeepSeek quickly became the most downloaded free application in Apple's US App Store. According to experts, the performance of version R1 of the program is on a par with the AI software of US competitors. Because the development of the AI application cost only a fraction of what US companies spent, according to DeepSeek, the share prices of US tech companies fell sharply.

Recently, countries such as France, Ireland and Italy have expressed concern about DeepSeek's handling of user data.