DeepSeek faces South Korean investigation over data privacy issues, following scrutiny in Italy and France

South Korea’s data protection authority has announced it will seek clarification from Chinese tech startup DeepSeek regarding its handling of users’ personal information. This comes after the company unveiled its powerful new AI chatbot, the R1, which has raised concerns over data privacy and sparked turmoil in global tech markets.

DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot is being touted as a major challenger to leading AI systems developed in the United States, offering comparable capabilities at a fraction of the cost.