Italian regulator seeks information from DeepSeek regarding data protection.
"Guarante" wants to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis, and whether it is stored in China.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's data protection authority said on Tuesday that it is seeking answers from the Chinese artificial intelligence model DeepSeek regarding the use of personal data.
The Italian regulatory body, also known as Garante, stated that it wants to know what personal data is collected, from which sources, for what purposes, on what legal basis, and whether it is stored in China.
DeepSeek and its affiliated companies have 20 days to respond, according to a statement from Garante, in one of the first regulatory measures against the Chinese startup.
In the United States, a White House press secretary said that officials are analyzing the implications of the app for national security.
DeepSeek, which presents itself as a low-cost alternative to its US competitors, triggered a sell-off in tech stocks on Monday when its free AI assistant surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT in Apple's US App Store.
Italy's regulator, the Guarantor, is one of Europe's most active watchdogs regarding the use of AI. In 2023, it briefly banned the use of ChatGPT, backed by Microsoft, in the country due to suspected violations of European Union privacy rules.
