DeepSeek-R1

Transparency and accountability 🙈

DeepSeek R1 suffers from multiple important transparency and accountability limitations, including:

• Content sources. DeepSeek fails to acknowledge the provenance of the content used to train and operate R1

• User privacy. DeepSeek's privacy policy says user data "may" be shared with its business partners, but fails to say who these are and what they might do with users' data

• Censorship. DeepSeek has been trained to avoid politically sensitive topics such as Tiananmen Square and Taiwan but does not disclose this publicly

• Environmental impacts. No mention is made of the environmental impacts of its training and deployment

• Risk management. DeepSeek does not disclose how it manages known risks its R1 model poses

• Complaints and appeals. DeepSeek's terms of use state complaints can be lodged, but there is no mention of this at the point of use on its web app. There does not appear to be a formal complaints procedure.

Risks and harms 🛑

DeepSeek is seen to pose serious risks to individuals, business and society, in the form of: 

• Loss of copyright, resulting in financial loss and increased competition

• Breaches of confidentiality and privacy

• Bias and discrimination in race, gender, health, religion and other characteristics

• Generating and amplifying misinformation and disinformation, including Chinese government propaganda

• Generating and amplifying content for creating dangerous items like bombs and toxins

Research, advocacy 🧮

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