DeepSeek Saga: Does Your Data Go To China? Perplexity AI CEO Answers - See Post

DeepSeek R1 is an AI model built using numerical weights organized in matrices. When a user inputs a prompt, the model processes these numbers to generate a response. The DeepSeek app allows users to chat with this AI, but their prompts are sent to the company’s servers.

Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas highlighted that all DeepSeek usage in Perplexity is through models hosted in data centers in the USA and Europe.  This ensures better control over privacy. He informed that other companies can also customize the model for additional tasks like web searches or code execution. 

Privacy and Data Security Concerns

DeepSeek has made its model’s weights open-source, allowing anyone to download and run it on their own servers. While DeepSeek’s AI can be run locally, most users access it through its mobile apps and web interface, which send data back to servers in China. 

The platform collects chat histories, personal details, and device information, raising privacy concerns. Although users can delete chat histories, experts warn against sharing sensitive data.

Censorship and Regulatory Issues

DeepSeek has been criticized for censoring politically sensitive topics, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, in line with Chinese government regulations. This has sparked concerns about potential state influence on AI responses. 

With growing global scrutiny of Chinese tech firms, questions around data privacy and censorship continue to escalate.