DeepSeek limits signups for AI chatbot amid malicious attack claims

The Chinese startup claims that its system had been targeted with large-scale malicious attacks. The startup's status page also shows problems with its API earlier in the day and on Sunday

By Rivaldo Jantjies 

DeepSeek said it’s restricting signups for new users to people with a mainland China telephone number, claiming that its system had been targeted in “large-scale malicious attacks.” 

DeepSeek’s services have been overwhelmed with demand since the weekend after it unveiled an artificial intelligence chatbot that it says can rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and was developed at a fraction of the cost of competing products. 

 

The Chinese startup sparked a $1 trillion rout in US and European technology stocks after its service surged to the top of smartphone app download charts, prompting investors to question bloated valuations for some of America’s biggest companies.

 

“Currently, only registration with a mainland China mobile phone number is supported,” the company posted earlier on its status page. DeepSeek did not specify whether the signup curbs are temporary or how long they will last.

 

An earlier service incident was resolved as of 9:32 p.m. in China on Monday, a little over an hour after the company first disclosed it, DeepSeek said. The startup’s status page also shows problems with its API earlier in the day and on Sunday. 

 

It was the company’s longest major outage since it started reporting its status and corresponds with the app rocketing to popularity in the Apple and Android app stores. DeepSeek, which was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, has said it’s produced a chatbot that competes with the latest technology from OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. at a fraction of the cost.