Report warns of data security risks from cheap Chinese AI models

A report in the UK’s The Guardian has warned that low-cost Chinese AI models could pose data security risks and deepen Western dependence on Chinese technology. It urges the UK to support domestic and European suppliers while regulating US AI.

New Delhi: There is much to fear from artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and Xiaomi China and handed to businesses and governments in the West almost free of charge, according to a report.

The report in the UK’s The Guardian highlights that Chinese developers are launching AI models by the dozen each month at a fraction of the cost of US equivalents. In practice, an AI user has the choice between a cheap Chinese open system they can tweak for their own ends or expensive US software that comes with various attachments that they probably don’t need.

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The policy governing DeepSeek’s online chatbot says it collects prompts and uploaded material, processes and stores personal data in China, and permits disclosure to Chinese authorities, the report by Phillip Inman pointed out.

It cited Michael Wooldridge, a Professor of AI at the University of Oxford, as saying it is not unreasonable to assume data inputted into the chatbot could be shared with the Chinese state.

“The consequences for policymaking are profound. The UK should reject the lure of cheap Chinese AI and seek to better tame US AI while supporting domestic and EU suppliers. Relying on Chinese tech, from cars to AI, is going to hollow out industry and undermine the security of our data,” the report stated.

The report points out that cheap AI takes the export threat from China to “a much higher level” than the communist country’s low-priced products such as EVs, which hurt domestic car industries of other countries.

“It’s scary because Beijing is entering a new phase in the long march of economic development, taking the world’s second largest economy closer to making China great again,” the report states.

It also underscores that China is building a fleet of warships to challenge the US in the Pacific, much as Japan did in the 1930s. Taiwan, the engine of semiconductor development, is also in its sights.

The report further states that where Russia is using AI to enhance cyber-attacks on European government agencies and businesses to create chaos, China wants merely to widen the circle of friends that consume its goods without asking awkward questions. However, this has the potential to enable Beijing to turn states into clients who depend for the basics of life on Chinese technology.