Chinese AI DeepSeek is copping bans from official use around the world - what is New Zealand's stance?

The Chinese open source licensed DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) that stunned share markets by supposedly being very cheap to train yet offering similar or better performance than large language models from Western tech companies, is now facing a backlash.

Australian authorities are banning its use, iTNews reported, out of national security concerns. So far, the federal government has nixed DeepSeek use, along with Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia.

Tasmania and Victoria are still mulling over whether or not to ban DeepSeek, but it would be surprising if they didn't, given how other states and territories have already done so.

Where does that leave New Zealand? We have contacted the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to find out what the country's position is on DeepSeek. As of writing, there doesn't appear to be any official advice on whether or not to use the Chinese-developed AI.

A quick scan of the news suggests that the United States is about to ban DeepSeek for official use, and Taiwan's already done so as you'd expect. South Korea has done the same to a degree, ditto Italy which has privacy concerns.

Almost all services provided over the Internet collect or can collect information on users; it would otherwise be hard to interact with providers' services. However, Western authorities are worried that the information could be shared with Chinese government agencies which providers in the country are obliged by law to do, and that's where the national security concerns come in.

Here's is what DeepSeek collects from users of its website interface to the AI, as per the company's privacy policy:

Automatically Collected Information

We automatically collect certain information from you when you use the Services, including internet or other network activity information such as your IP address, unique device identifiers, and cookies.

• Technical Information. We collect certain device and network connection information when you access the Service. This information includes your device model, operating system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, and system language. We also collect service-related, diagnostic, and performance information, including crash reports and performance logs. We automatically assign you a device ID and user ID. Where you log-in from multiple devices, we use information such as your device ID and user ID to identify your activity across devices to give you a seamless log-in experience and for security purposes.
• Usage Information. We collect information regarding your use of the Services, such as the features you use and the actions you take.
• Cookies. We and our service providers and business partners may use cookies and other similar technologies (e.g., web beacons, flash cookies, etc.) (“Cookies”) to automatically collect information, measure and analyze how you use our Services, enhance your experience using our Services, and improve our Services. Cookies enable our Services to provide certain features and functionality. Web beacons are very small images or small pieces of data embedded in images, also known as “pixel tags” or “clear GIFs,” that can recognize Cookies, the time and date a page is viewed, a description of the page where the pixel tag is placed, and similar information from your computer or device. To learn how to disable certain Cookies, see the “Your Choices” section below.
• Payment Information. When you use paid services for prepayment, we collect your payment order and transaction information to provide services such as order placement, payment, customer service, and after-sales support.

Update A spokesperson for the NCSC provided the below response.

"The GCSB [Government Communications Security Bureau, New Zealand's signals intelligence agency] maintains awareness of developments and controls on technology in other nations. We continue to review our current settings as new information becomes available. Any security advice offered to government is based on independent analysis, to support independent decision making. In regards to DeepSeek, we are continuing to develop our position on this application in conjunction with other government officials."  

 "It is important to understand that by installing any application, or interacting with any interface, users may be agreeing that their data will be subject to the legal and privacy requirements of the nation that the company operates under, which can be vastly different to New Zealand laws and protections."

 "We note the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) recently released updated guidance to support the New Zealand Public Service to explore generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems in ways that are safe, transparent and responsible."