The Deepseek app icon on a mobile screen is seen, Jan. 27. Reuters-Yonhap

The Ministry of Environment on Thursday joined many other government ministries in blocking access to the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) service DeepSeek amid concerns about user data collection.

The ministry blocked access to DeepSeek from its internet-connected PCs from 9 a.m. on the day, though it did not take such a measure for other generative AIs, such as OpenAI and ChatGPT.

"The intelligence authorities have asked for caution in using DeepSeek, as its personal information collection system is not yet clearly known," a ministry official said.

Since the interior ministry asked central government ministries and 17 local governments on Tuesday to be cautious about using generative AIs, such as DeepSeek, the foreign, trade, defense and finance ministries have blocked access to the Chinese AI so far. (Yonhap)