DeepSeek - a Chinese AI startup - made a splash in early 2025 when it defeated ChatGPT to take the lead in Apple's most downloaded app rankings.
However, security experts have warned about the link of this application to the impacts on personal data. That is the reason why Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announced the decision to ban the use of DeepSeek in this country after a meeting with the cabinet.
Previously, the Czech Republic, Australia, Taiwan (China), Italy, Denmark and South Korea have also issued a partial or complete ban on this application, while in the US, some federal agencies, including NASA and the Ministry of National Defense, have banned the use of the DeepSeek application. Meanwhile, data protection officials in Germany are pushing for a ban.
After DeepSeek became the most downloaded app on Apple's App Store in the US, pushing OpenAI's rival ChatGPT to second place, US technology companies' stock prices fell sharply due to concerns that a large investment in OpenAI may not be effective.
DeepSeek is a natural language chatbot that can handle many requests like ChatGPT - creating a recip for cooking based on what is in your refrigerator, answering thesis questions, discussing career orientation.
But what makes the AI model of Chinese startup DeepSeek different is that it is said to be cost-effective and requires fewer AI chips (artificial intelligence) than the large AI models of established suppliers.
DeepSeek was developed by a small-name startup from Hangzhou, a technology hub in eastern China.
However, the launch of the V3 generation in January 2025 has surprised many in the industry because of its ability to match Western rivals, but it is noteworthy that it is possible to do so with significantly less resources. downloads skyrocketed after the company launched a new R1 reasoning model on January 20, 2025.
