By Andrew Brown in Canberra
The arrival of Chinese artificial intelligence model DeepSeek may lead to Australia being more competitive in the field, but safety concerns remain, experts say.
The AI assistant – which launched last week – rocketed to the top of app stores, with DeepSeek claiming it uses less data at a fraction of the cost of other services.
The launch led to a rout of global financial markets as investors call into question the valuation of other AI companies, with Nvidia losing $US593 billion from its market value in just one day.
The fraction of the cost DeepSeek needs to operate could lead to Australia playing a more proactive role in AI in the future, computer science lecturer at the University of Sydney Armin Chitizadeh said.
“There was a huge amount of resources needed to get to ChatGPT, but DeepSeek uses less resources and energy, and that’s great news, and Australia might not be as far behind,” he told AAP.
“It’s not possible at the moment for Australia to be as big an investor (as the US or China), but once the price comes down further, it will make it possible for everyone to participate.”
However, Dr Chitizadeh said questions still needed to be answered on security concerns about DeepSeek, given the program’s ties with China.
“We’re not sure how connected DeepSeek is connected to the Chinese government and there are worries the Chinese information agency might get all of this information from data from people around the world,” he said.
“It’s not like it’s going to be hacked, the issue is can we trust the owners?”
Senior federal ministers have also expressed concern over DeepSeek, despite being optimistic about the future of AI.
Cabinet minister Clare O’Neil said while there were opportunities for AI, users needed to be cautious about the information they pass on.
“It’s fine to talk to the app, but perhaps don’t give it personal information that you don’t want the rest of the world to know,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program on Wednesday.
“What our national security agencies will be doing at the moment is having a look at the settings of the app and understanding more about how it works before it issues some formal guidance to Australians.”
It comes as the federal government’s national reconstruction fund invested $32 million in Australian-based company Harrison.ai, which uses artificial intelligence to detect and diagnose medical conditions such as cancer.
Science Minister Ed Husic said tools like AI would be able to revolutionise work across many industries such as medicine.
“Quicker diagnoses lead to earlier treatment and more lives saved, Harrison.ai is breakthrough technology that will do exactly that,” Mr Husic said.
“Using Al will make radiology more precise and will increase the quality of life for Australians and people the world over.”
While Dr Chitizadeh said the advancements in AI had been impressive, concerns still remained about its development.
“Everyone is competing to make AI faster or cheaper, but not to make it safer, which is what we need to do,” he said.
“We are ignoring the safety and how damaging AI can be to some people.”
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