The jury is still out on whether the Chinese AI upstart DeepSeek is a game changer or part of an elaborate plan by its hedge fund parent company to short

DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot, swiftly rose to the top of app stores this week, and it's just as swiftly rising in priority for data protection watchdog agencies worldwide.

DeepSeek AI disappears from Italy’s app stores as regulators question its data practices and concerns grow over user privacy.

Hours after Italian authorities requested information from DeepSeek about how the company handles user data, the Chinese AI startup's app is no longer

The Italian data protection authority, GPDP, has demanded DeepSeek supply information on its handling of Italians’ user data. This includes the type of data collected, how it is stored and whether that data is stored on Chinese servers. It is out to ensure compliance with the EU’s GDPR rules.

Italy's data protection authority said on Tuesday it was seeking answers from Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model DeepSeek on its use of personal data.

China's DeepSeek AI has already caught the eye of a data protection watchdog, shortly after it went viral and became the top-rated free app on Apple's App Store in the US and other regions. As TechCrunch reports,

The Chinese AI model will have to provide information on the processing of EU data after politicians, NGOs and researchers expressed concerns about the safety of Europeans. View on euronews

The Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, which surged in popularity this week and sparked a sell-off in technology stocks, appeared to be unavailable on Wednesday in Apple and Google app stores in Italy.