The company, whose chatbot took over OpenAI's ChatGPT as Apple's top downloaded app on Monday, cited "large-scale malicious attacks" for outages and its inability to take on new users.
DeepSeek, which was developed by a start-up based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, has shown the ability to match the capacity of AI pace-setters such as Nvidia.
Its success on the US app store sent shares in AI-linked tech giants plummeting on Monday.
The low-cost Chinese generative AI venture is thought to have matched US companies in its abilities but at a fraction of the cost.
Analysts had long thought that the United States' critical advantage over China when it comes to producing high-powered chips -- and its ability to prevent the Asian power from accessing the technology -- would give it the edge in the AI race.
Available as an app or on desktop, DeepSeek can do many of the things that its Western competitors can do -- write song lyrics, help work on a personal development plan, or even write a recipe for dinner based on what's in the fridge.
It is however subject to the censorship seen in other Chinese-made chatbots like Baidu's Ernie Bot that are very limited on how they interact on political topics.
Australia says be 'very careful' over DeepSeek and privacy
Sydney (AFP) Jan 28, 2025 -
Australia's science minister raised privacy concerns over China's breakout AI chatbot DeepSeek on Tuesday, urging users to think carefully before downloading it.
Developed by a China-based technology startup, the DeepSeek chatbot has astounded industry insiders and upended financial markets since it was released last week.
Praised for its ability to match Western competitors at a fraction of the cost, it has surged to the top of app download charts, displacing market leader ChatGPT.
But Australian Science Minister Ed Husic urged caution.
"There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered in time on quality, consumer preferences, data and privacy management," Husic told national broadcaster ABC.
"I would be very careful about that. These type of issues need to be weighed up carefully."
Husic said Chinese companies sometimes differed from Western rivals when it came to user privacy and data management.
"The Chinese are very good at developing products that work very well. That market is accustomed to their approaches on data and privacy.
"The minute you export it to markets where consumers have different expectations around privacy and data management, the questions is whether those products will be embraced in the same way.
"I think you have to be careful, I'm just being completely frank and direct on that."
Australia in 2018 banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its national 5G network, citing national security concerns.
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