The app's popularity has also contributed to a significant drop in the U.S. stock market, with investors reacting fearfully to its rapid ascent.
DeepSeek R1, a free and open-source AI assistant from China, has surged to become the most downloaded free app on the Apple App Store as of February 4, 2025, maintaining this top position for a week.
However, this explosive growth has led to a notable impact on tech stocks, prompting the company to temporarily halt new user registrations due to a large-scale cyberattack.
Concerns have emerged regarding DeepSeek's privacy policy, as it collects sensitive user data stored on servers in China, including IP addresses and emails, and reportedly retains this data indefinitely.
Despite the challenges, the emergence of DeepSeek may present opportunities for American startups to reduce AI application development costs and accelerate technology adoption.
These privacy concerns have attracted scrutiny from various governments, leading Taiwan to ban the app's use by state agencies due to security risks.
Experts have advised potential users to weigh the risks associated with privacy and security before embracing DeepSeek, especially given its built-in real-time censorship.
Cybersecurity experts have raised alarms about the app's compliance with Chinese regulations, which restrict discussions on politically sensitive topics, potentially compromising the integrity of the information provided.
AI consultant Heather Murray emphasized the importance of being cautious about data privacy when using DeepSeek, particularly due to its data retention practices.
Users are encouraged to exercise caution when downloading AI applications, considering the potential risks involved with platforms like DeepSeek.
In just 18 days since its release, DeepSeek achieved 16 million downloads, significantly outpacing ChatGPT, which garnered 9 million downloads in the same timeframe.
The app's rapid rise is attributed to claims that its reasoning capabilities rival those of ChatGPT while being less expensive to train.
