The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) is rapidly climbing the ranks in AI discussions, and if you’ve been keeping up with emerging tech, you’ve likely noticed how easily it integrates into major AI advancements. With AI trends evolving at lightning speed, ICP has the potential to align with groundbreaking developments like DeepSeek, an AI model that has been making waves.

But what exactly is DeepSeek? How are developers using it? And most importantly, how does ICP fit into the equation? Let’s break it down.

What Is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek has positioned itself as a powerful, open-source AI model that challenges the dominance of platforms like OpenAI. You might have seen the buzz around it—its affordability, efficiency, and accessibility make it an attractive option for developers and businesses.

At the same time, DeepSeek isn’t without controversy. Questions about data privacy and security have emerged, sparking concerns among users and regulatory bodies. If you’re thinking of exploring this AI model, there are a few things you need to know first.

How DeepSeek Works: A Look at Its Model Architecture

DeepSeek’s AI models, particularly DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3, are designed to be both efficient and accessible.

• DeepSeek-R1 is perfect if you prefer to run AI models locally without relying on cloud-based services. It allows you to process queries on your personal device, ensuring better privacy and reducing dependency on external servers.
• DeepSeek-V3, in contrast, offers an online and mobile-friendly experience, meaning you can access the AI anywhere, but at the cost of relying on centralised infrastructure.

If you’re wondering what makes DeepSeek different from other AI models, its Multi-head Latent Attention (MLA) is worth noting. This innovation compresses the Key-Value (KV) cache into a smaller latent vector, making it more memory-efficient and faster at processing longer inputs (up to 128,000 tokens).

Then there’s DeepSeekMoE, a framework that ensures each AI “expert” focuses on a specific knowledge area. This structure reduces redundancy and increases accuracy, making DeepSeek more effective at complex reasoning tasks.

DeepSeek Model Running on ICP: A Game-Changer for Onchain AI

In a major breakthrough, a 1.5 billion parameter DeepSeek model is now running directly in an ICP canister. This is a huge step toward fully on-chain AI, reducing computation costs and unlocking new possibilities for AI applications.

For those unfamiliar, ICP’s smart contracts (canisters) allow AI models to run decentrally, without relying on traditional cloud providers like AWS or Google Cloud. This means AI models like DeepSeek can operate trustlessly, ensuring data privacy, censorship resistance, and verifiable execution.

With this development, ICP has proven that it can handle AI models efficiently on-chain, setting the stage for decentralised AI inference, governance, and monetisation.

What You Should Watch Out for: Security & Privacy Concerns

Before you dive headfirst into using DeepSeek, here’s the part that should make you pause. While its capabilities are impressive, security concerns have raised red flags in multiple countries.

Data Routing Through China

If privacy matters to you, you might want to rethink using DeepSeek’s online services. Researchers have discovered that its web login page contains obfuscated code connecting to China Mobile, a state-owned telecom company. This raises concerns about whether user data is being transmitted to Chinese servers.

Unencrypted Data Transfers

If you’re an iPhone user, pay close attention. Security analysts found that DeepSeek’s iOS app sends unencrypted user data to ByteDance-controlled servers (yes, the same ByteDance that owns TikTok). This means your interactions with the AI could be exposed to third-party access.

Bans by Governments & Organizations

If you work for a government agency or a security-sensitive organisation, you may already be restricted from using DeepSeek. Countries like Italy, Thailand, and Taiwan have banned it, along with entities like NASA and the U.S. Navy, citing security threats.

How You Can Use DeepSeek Safely

If you’re still eager to explore DeepSeek, there are ways to minimise risk:

• Run It Locally: The best way to avoid data exposure is to install and run DeepSeek-R1 on your local device. This ensures that your data never leaves your personal system.
• Limit Internet Access: If you must use DeepSeek online, consider network restrictions to control what data gets transmitted externally.

DeepSeek’s Connection to ICP

While DeepSeek initially had no direct link to ICP, this has changed with the launch of a DeepSeek model inside an ICP canister.

This marks a significant shift toward fully decentralised AI, where models can run without centralised cloud providers, reducing both costs and security risks. The Internet Computer Protocol ensures that AI processing happens on-chain, providing a trustless and verifiable execution environment.

This could solve DeepSeek’s biggest problem—centralisation and privacy risks. Unlike traditional AI models that rely on corporate cloud infrastructure, DeepSeek on ICP operates within a decentralised ecosystem, making it more resistant to censorship, data harvesting, and government restrictions.

Why This Matters for Developers

If you’re a developer exploring AI, this integration opens up new opportunities:

• Lower Costs: Running AI models on ICP significantly reduces computation expenses, making AI more accessible.
• Enhanced Privacy & Security: No reliance on corporate cloud services means data remains secure.
• Decentralised Monetization: Developers can create AI-driven dApps without needing permission from centralised platforms.

ICP’s ability to host and run AI models efficiently positions it as a leader in the decentralised AI movement.

Conclusion

DeepSeek is an exciting AI model with incredible potential. If you’re a developer, researcher, or AI enthusiast, it’s worth exploring—but not without caution. Security risks, government restrictions, and privacy concerns mean that you need to take extra steps to protect your data.

With the first DeepSeek model now running in an ICP canister, we are seeing the future of decentralised AI unfold. If AI decentralisation is something you care about, keep an eye on ICP—this is just the beginning.

Disclaimer

The security concerns highlighted in this article are based on publicly available reports and research on DeepSeek’s infrastructure and data practices. This article does not claim that DeepSeek engages in malicious activity but aims to inform users about possible risks associated with its usage.

Users should conduct their own due diligence and stay updated on evolving security developments before integrating DeepSeek into their workflows.

Article by; Mana Lamja