One of Germany’s data protection watchdogs on Friday said DeepSeek’s app illegally sends user data to China and asked Google and Apple to consider blocking the artificial intelligence service.

Berlin’s data protection commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement that DeepSeek’s transfer of German user data to China is “unlawful.”

There is not a readily available way to get in touch with DeepSeek. CNBC has reached out to DeepSeek’s privacy team.

Chinese firm DeepSeek made waves this year when it launched an AI model that it claimed was created at a fraction of the cost of competitors, using less advanced Nvidia chips.

The company also has its own global chatbot AI app, which has been downloaded millions of times, garnering scrutiny.

If the German case against DeepSeek progresses, it could lead to a European Union-wide ban for the app, some experts say.

“It is certainly possible that this incident could lead to an EU-wide ban because the rules that apply in Germany are the same elsewhere in the EU and also in the UK,” Matt Holman, specialist AI and data lawyer at Cripps, told CNBC by email. There are a few steps before this would become reality, however.

This is not DeepSeek’s first run-in with regulators in Europe. Italian data protection authorities in February ordered DeepSeek to block its app in the country. Meanwhile, Irish authorities in January asked DeepSeek for information on its data processing.

SoftBank is “all in” on OpenAI, CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday, as the Japanese tech giant looks to realize its vision of “artificial superintelligence.”

This year, the Japanese multinational conglomerate has been increasing its investments in OpenAI and participating in joint ventures such as the $500 billion Stargate project. 

According to Son, SoftBank is now “all in” on the artificial intelligence company, with total planned investments in the company reaching about 4.8 trillion Japanese yen ($33.2 billion), despite it being unlisted and unprofitable.

“I think that OpenAI will be listed eventually and, in my belief, will become the most valuable company in the world,” Son said. He added, however, that it “takes bravery to invest” in such a company. 

As it turns out, Son has long held that conviction. During the shareholders’ meeting, he revealed that before 2019, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had asked him if SoftBank would invest $10 billion into the company.

“I said, yes, I would … I was serious because I had financial resources thanks to Vision Fund’s performance. But obviously, Sam talked to other potential investors, and eventually, they picked Microsoft,” he said.  

Microsoft ultimately inked the deal, which made it the exclusive provider of computing power for OpenAI’s research, products, and programming interfaces for developers. However, Microsoft lost its status as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider at the start of this year.

And that relationship now appears to be on rocky footing. According to recent reports, Microsoft hasn’t approved an OpenAI restructuring plan that would turn it into a more conventional for-profit company.

Touching upon the reports, Son suggested that Altman should have chosen SoftBank, not Microsoft, as its initial partner, though he noted that SoftBank was smaller at the time and that Microsoft had its global supply chains, technical talents and brand value to offer. 

SoftBank has previously stated that it could reduce its portion of its $30 billion investment in OpenAI’s latest funding round in March to $20 billion if it doesn’t restructure into a for-profit entity by Dec. 31.

However, on Friday, Son said that his conviction on OpenAI has only grown stronger and that SoftBank will continue to deepen its relationship with the company, regardless of what happens with Microsoft. 

Part of Son’s belief in OpenAI stems from his desire for SoftBank to be at the center of “artificial superintelligence,” which he has described as AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans. 

Son said on Friday that he wants SoftBank to become the biggest platform provider for this ASI within the next decade, serving as the “organizer of the industry in the artificial superintelligence era.” 

He added that SoftBank’s partnership with OpenAI, along with British semiconductor company Arm, which SoftBank acquired in 2016, would be essential to those plans.

SoftBank has been increasingly aggressive in its AI-related investments, which included an acquisition of U.S.-based chips designer Ampere for $6.5 billion earlier this year.

Bloomberg News reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter, that Son is also considering establishing a $1 trillion industrial complex in the U.S. that will develop AI. 

A SpaceX crane collapse at the company’s Starbase, Texas facility on Tuesday has prompted an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency told CNBC in an email.

The crane collapse was captured in a livestream by Lab Padre on YouTube, a SpaceX-focused channel. Clips from Lab Padre were widely shared on social media, including on X, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether any SpaceX workers were injured as a result of the incident. Musk and other company executives didn’t respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for OSHA told CNBC that more details will be available after the investigation is complete.

SpaceX has a history of workplace injuries that exceed industry average, Reuters previously reported. In 2014, one of the company’s employees, Simon LeBlanc, died on the job due to what OSHA concluded was a failure by the company to protect him from a clear hazard.

Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Musk-led effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal government, cut OSHA’s resources and shuttered at least 11 of its field offices. Through DOGE, Musk sought to reduce federal agency budgets, personnel and even certain regulations, limiting their ability to investigate and enforce existing laws.

The SpaceX crane collapse followed a string of explosions and other setbacks for the company’s Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle, the largest rocket ever flown, which is key to Musk’s ambition to transport equipment and people to Mars.

Environmental activists in the U.S. and Mexico say those explosions have harmed sensitive habitat, wildlife and marine life. SpaceX said, in posts online, that its activity had not harmed the surrounding area during the most recent explosion on June 18.

Starship was previously expected to play an important part in NASA’s effort to return to the moon. SpaceX had earned more than $20 billion in federal government contracts mostly from the Department of Defense and NASA.

Meanwhile, NASA’s proposed lean budget for the next year has not yet been authorized by Congress and could impact the agency’s business with SpaceX, and shift the focus of its missions.

Musk, who was President Donald Trump’s biggest financial backer, sought to appoint his friend Jared Issacman, a commercial astronaut, to lead NASA under the second Trump administration. Trump withdrew his nomination of Isaacman as the president bickered with Musk in the waning days of the billionaire’s formal involvement with the White House.

WATCH: SpaceX valuation may be conservative, investor says.