DeepSeek has been making waves since the release of their R1 model a few days ago. That affordability is democratizing AI in a way we haven’t seen before, leveling the playing field. Its open-source model is a major win, because it allows companies to deploy AI locally, keeping sensitive data in-house and complying with even the strictest security policies. That’s a huge shift, especially when considering the amount of sensitive information people are sharing with AI systems.
DeepSeek is gaining a lot of momentum, but the possibility of backdoors or vulnerabilities in the technology isn’t something to take lightly. It’s important to note though that these risks aren’t unique to DeepSeek. Organizations must take a comprehensive approach to securing data, no matter which model they’re using.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company that emerged in December 2023 and is quickly becoming a major competitor in the AI space since the release of their R1 model (January 2025). With 671B parameters, it matches OpenAI o1 on many benchmarks and ranks third globally in performance.
Perhaps most remarkably, DeepSeek claims to have accomplished this feat at a fraction of the typical cost - just $5.6 million compared to the industry standard of $100+ million. This efficiency was achieved through sophisticated reinforcement learning techniques and optimized GPU usage.
DeepSeek's commitment to open-source development under the MIT license has particularly resonated with the AI community. This means that organizations can freely use, modify, and even commercialize the technology. Their pricing structure is equally disruptive, with API costs up to 90% lower than competitors - charging just $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.19 per million output tokens.
Is it safe to use DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is emerging as a significant player in the AI market, though its operations raise important considerations. The platform adheres to Chinese content regulations and maintains broad rights over user-submitted content and AI-generated outputs. According to its privacy policy, unless using a walled version, user inquiries are processed on Chinese servers, subjecting collected data to local Chinese privacy laws, which is a major concern for Washington policymakers. The platform's ability to incorporate user conversations and personal information into its model - like any other LLM - presents substantial data privacy implications.
Here are some tips to ensure a safe use of DeepSeek inside your organization:
- Monitor the usage of your employees by using a browser extension, an agent or a network inspection solution.
- If you are using the DeepSeek API in your applications, use an AI Gateway to inspect and protect all prompts and responses.
- If your developers are using the DeepSeek models in their code assistants, have an agent or a network solution to redact secrets or PII in prompts and to validate that the source code returned in the responses is not malicious or vulnerable.
Is DeepSeek going to eclipse other LLM providers?
The company's competitive pricing strategy could have far-reaching effects on the AI market landscape at large. If DeepSeek continues to disrupt pricing models, competitors may need to reduce their costs or accelerate innovation. This market pressure could potentially lead to U.S. government intervention, possibly in the form of subsidies for domestic AI providers like OpenAI, to maintain market equilibrium and address national security considerations. Organizations must maintain robust data security measures regardless of which AI model they choose, as the risks of potential backdoors or vulnerabilities aren't unique to any single provider.
Can Prompt Security help?
Prompt Security enables organizations to adopt or block DeepSeek based on their security requirements - from full deployment to controlled access aligned with specific risk policies.
While DeepSeek represents an exciting advancement in AI technology, offering impressive capabilities at unprecedented cost efficiency, it's crucial for organizations to approach its adoption with appropriate security measures in place.
Prompt Security provides the comprehensive protection needed to safely explore and adopt DeepSeek as well as any other powerful AI tools while maintaining control over sensitive data and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Let’s talk GenAI Security.
