China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot doesn’t exactly have the best of reputations.It has exposed chat history and other sensitive data; the iOS app has been shown to have multiple security flaws; is under investigation in both the US and Europe; and ARM’s CEO believes it will end up being banned in the US.But none of this has stopped Apple CEO Tim Cook describing it as “excellent” during a visit to Beijing for the China Development Forum … China’s DeepSeek DeepSeek is an AI chatbot developed in China which quickly climbed to the #1 slot in Apple’s App Store.
China posted benchmarks indicating that its performance was comparable to the world’s best existing models.Experts quickly verified the claims, expressing shock that China was able to achieve this at a fraction of the development cost of US models, and running locally on very modestly-specced PCs – though it was later suggested the cost differential was exaggerated.Privacy concerns quickly led to investigations being opened in both the US and Europe.
The additional issues described above then followed.Tim Cook in China Cook is visiting the country to participate in the China Development Forum, and has been sharing his visit in a series of Weibo posts.Cook calls DeepSeek ‘excellent’ The reports that he called DeepSeek “excellent” when speaking to state media.
9to5Mac’s Take Apple’s dependence on China as its primary manufacturing center, as well as for a very large slice of its sales, means that Cook is frequently forced to make diplomatic remarks about the country, no matter how much its policies and actions may conflict with the iPhone maker’s values.One of the major compromises Apple had to make was to partner with a local company for the launch of Apple Intelligence in China, with all of the political censorship that will involve.The government had made it crystal clear that this was not optional.
It seems likely Cook was asked to comment on DeepSeek, and gave the shortest possible diplomatic answer.Highlighted accessories Anker 511 Nano Pro ultra-compact iPhone charger Spigen MagFit case for iPhone 16e – adds MagSafe support Apple MagSafe Charger with 25w power for iPhone 16 models Apple 30W charger for above Anker 240W braided USB-C to USB-C cable / You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day.Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop.
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