‘Is DeepSeek the TikTok of AI?’ Asks Former Indian IT Minister 

Chinese language AI firm DeepSeek has not solely disrupted markets and shaken technologists worldwide but additionally raised considerations over its privateness coverage.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former Indian IT minister, took to X to query if DeepSeek was on the trail to changing into the following TikTok. His comment hinted on the rising considerations about DeepSeek AI’s potential impression on person knowledge and its broader geopolitical implications.

Responses to his put up ranged from gentle considerations to these banishing it. Devilal Sharma, an alumnus of IIT Madras, mentioned that for the reason that mannequin is open supply, it may be used domestically with out an web connection. “Deploy it by yourself servers inside your personal nation, and the information received’t go anyplace,” he mentioned.

One other opined that that is nothing completely different from what ChatGPT or another AI mannequin is doing. “Any firm which makes use of person knowledge and key data, shops of their nation could at any time in future make us susceptible as [a] client,” he mentioned.

In its privateness coverage, the corporate mentions that it collects community connection data, which incorporates “your machine mannequin, working system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP deal with, and system language”.

“The non-public data we accumulate from you might be saved on a server situated exterior of the nation the place you reside. We retailer the knowledge we accumulate in safe servers situated within the Folks’s Republic of China,” learn one other part of the privateness coverage.

The point out of knowledge being saved in China will definitely increase eyebrows within the Indian authorities. In 2020, India banned over 50 Chinese language functions, together with TikTok, which had roughly 200 million customers within the nation.

‘World Doesn’t Want’ a TikTok of AI

5 years in the past, India’s IT ministry banned these apps resulting from ‘raging considerations’ about knowledge safety and the privateness of the Indian inhabitants. The ministry mentioned that it obtained a number of complaints from residents, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, and the Laptop Emergency Response Staff relating to the identical.

“On the premise of those and upon receiving latest credible inputs that such apps pose a risk to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the Authorities of India has determined to disallow the utilization of sure apps, utilized in each cell and non-mobile internet-enabled units,” learn a press launch from the ministry in 2020.

These Chinese language apps had been additionally mentioned to be banned because of the escalating tensions between India and China. These apps are additionally barred from authorities units in nations like Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, and some others.

Just lately, TikTok’s service was additionally suspended in the US, owing to a invoice signed into legislation by former American president Joe Biden. Quickly after, when Donald Trump took cost, he granted an extension, thereby halting the enforcement of the ban for 75 days.

“Solely protected and trusted AI must be provided to/be accessible on the worldwide web to shoppers,” Chandrasekhar cautioned.

“The world doesn’t want and should not allow a TikTok of AI,” he added.

Will DeepSeek Be Banned in India?

A number of customers are afraid that DeepSeek would possibly meet a destiny much like TikTok. “Certainly one of my worst fears proper now could be the Indian authorities banning DeepSeek for being a Chinese language product,” mentioned Shlok Khemani, a software program developer on X.

Apparently, the US Navy has already banned DeepSeek and issued a warning to its members to keep away from utilizing DeepSeek for any function, whether or not work or private.

DeepSeek can also be underneath scrutiny for avoiding controversial questions on China and for not answering questions on Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state that’s in battle with China.

India is prone to take a nuanced method to coping with any considerations posed by DeepSeek. A couple of days in the past, the IT ministry drafted the ‘Digital Private Knowledge Safety Guidelines 2025’ as a way to implement the ‘Digital Private Knowledge Safety Act (DPDP)’ from 2023.

“It goals to strengthen the authorized framework for the safety of digital private knowledge by offering crucial particulars and an actionable framework”, learn a press launch from the ministry.

Final 12 months, Chandrasekhar additionally criticised Google’s AI after it carried destructive remarks about India’s Prime Minister. Quickly after, the federal government issued an advisory requiring AI companies to acquire prior permission to make their merchandise accessible on-line. Nonetheless, one other advisory quickly adopted, suppressing the earlier one.

In the meantime, Chandrasekhar, whereas a tad sceptical, was additionally filled with reward for the AI mannequin. “This [is] a Chinese language firm demolishing the idea that progress in AI and innovation in AI by some means relies upon upon billions of {dollars} of compute infrastructure.”

He indicated that this was towards the narrative of AI improvement in the US, and DeepSeek has proven the massive western firms how highly effective fashions may be constructed at a fraction of the fee.

DeepSeek’s open-source nature permits it to be hosted on any server. For instance, Perplexity provides DeepSeek-R1 on its platform and hosts the mannequin on servers in the US.

In the meantime, there could also be optimistic information on the Indo-China bilateral relationship, with each nations agreeing in precept to renew direct flights 5 years after the COVID-19 pandemic. The overseas ministry additionally mentioned that the 2 nations will resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summertime of 2025.

“The 2 sides agreed to take applicable measures to additional promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, together with media and think-tank interactions,” learn the announcement.

The put up ‘Is DeepSeek the TikTok of AI?’ Asks Former Indian IT Minister appeared first on Analytics India Journal.

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