Australia’s Science Minister Raises Privacy Concerns Over China’s AI Chatbot DeepSeek

Australia’s Science Minister, Ed Husic, has voiced concerns over privacy issues surrounding DeepSeek, a new AI chatbot developed by a China-based technology startup. The chatbot, which was released last week, has taken the industry by storm, outperforming Western competitors at a fraction of the cost and quickly rising to the top of app download charts, surpassing market leader ChatGPT.

Despite its success, Minister Husic has urged users to be cautious before downloading the app. In an interview with national broadcaster ABC, Husic emphasized that there are significant questions regarding the quality, consumer preferences, and, most notably, data and privacy management of the chatbot.

“There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered in time on quality, consumer preferences, data and privacy management,” Husic said. “I would be very careful about that. These types of issues need to be weighed up carefully.”

Husic pointed out that Chinese companies often have different practices when it comes to user privacy and data handling compared to their Western counterparts. “The Chinese are very good at developing products that work very well. That market is accustomed to their approaches on data and privacy,” he explained. “The minute you export it to markets where consumers have different expectations around privacy and data management, the question is whether those products will be embraced in the same way.”

His remarks follow Australia’s history of caution with Chinese technology. In 2018, Australia banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G network, citing national security concerns.

Husic’s comments highlight the growing concern over the balance between technological advancement and privacy safeguards, especially when products are exported to international markets with varying regulatory expectations.

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