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Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Images

South Korea’s data protection authority has concluded that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek collected personal information from local users and transferred it overseas without their permission.

The authority, the Personal Information Protection Commission, released its written findings on Thursday in connection with a privacy and security review of DeepSeek.

It follows DeepSeek’s removal of its chatbot application from South Korean app stores in February at the recommendation of PICP. The agency said DeepSeek had committed to cooperate on its concerns. 

During DeepSeek’s presence in South Korea, it transferred user data to several firms in China and the U.S. without obtaining the necessary consent from users or disclosing the practice, the PIPC said.

The agency highlighted a particular case in which DeepSeek transferred information from user-written AI prompts, as well as device, network, and app information, to a Chinese cloud service platform named Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co.

While the PIPC identified Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co. as “an affiliate” of TikTok-owner ByteDance, the information privacy watchdog noted in a statement that the cloud platform “is a separate legal entity and has no relation to ByteDance,” according to a Google translation.

According to PIPC, DeepSeek said it used Beijing Volcano Engine Technology’s services to improve the security and user experience of its app, but later blocked the transfer of AI prompt information from April 10.

OpenAI calls for U.S. DeepSeek ban

DeepSeek and ByteDance did not immediately respond to inquiries from CNBC. 

The Hangzhou-based AI startup took the world by storm in January when it unveiled its R1 reasoning model, rivaling the performance of Western competitors despite the company’s claims that it was trained for relatively low costs and with less advanced hardware. 

However, the app’s rising popularity quickly triggered national security and data concerns outside China due to Beijing’s requirement for domestic firms to share data with the PRC. Cybersecurity experts have also flagged data vulnerabilities in the app and voiced concerns about the company’s privacy policy. 

PIPC on Thursday said it had issued a corrective recommendation to DeepSeek, which includes requests to immediately destroy AI prompt information transferred to the Chinese company in question and to set up legal protocols for transferring personal information overseas.

When the data protection authority announced the removal of DeepSeek from local app stores, it signaled that the app would become available again once the company implemented the necessary updates to comply with local data protection policy.

That investigation followed reports that some South Korean government agencies had banned employees from using DeepSeek on work devices. Other global government departments, including in Taiwan, Australia, and the U.S., have reportedly instituted similar bans.

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Alphabet to report Q1 earnings results after the bell

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April 24, 2025

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Alphabet to report Q1 earnings results after the bell

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, is set to report first-quarter earnings after the bell Thursday.

Here’s what analysts are expecting.

  • Revenue: $89.12 billion, according to LSEG
  • Earnings per share: $2.01, according to LSEG
  • YouTube advertising revenue: $8.97 billion, according to StreetAccount
  • Google Cloud revenue: $12.27 billion, according to StreetAccount
  • Traffic acquisition costs (TAC): $13.66 billion, according to StreetAccount

Google finds itself at the center of an artificial intelligence arms race where its position may be threatened pending mounting regulation and competition from generative AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic. The company is also among those bracing for the potential impact from President Donald Trump‘s tariffs, which could result in a pullback in advertiser spending due to tighter budgets.

Alphabet shares have dropped more than 17% in 2025 so far.

Wall Street is expecting Alphabet to report 10% year-over-year revenue growth for the first quarter, which included a slew of AI announcements, its largest-ever acquisition, cost cuts and regulatory hurdles.

In March, Google released Gemini 2.5, its “most capable” artificial intelligence model suite yet, and Gemma 3, the company’s latest open model. The timing of Gemini 2.5 and Gemma 3 comes after DeepSeek in January released its R1 model, which caused a rift in Silicon Valley after the Chinese startup claimed its AI model was trained at a fraction of the cost of other leading models.

Google AI chief Demis Hassabis told employees at an all-hands meeting in February that he was not worried about DeepSeek and that Google has superior AI technology.

“We’re very calm and confident in our strategy, and we have all the ingredients to maintain our leadership into this year,” Hassabis said, calming concerns from investors and employees alike. He added, however, he thinks the Chinese company is still “something to be taken seriously.”

Google this quarter also announced new personalization features for Gemini, allowing the chatbot to reference users’ search histories, and users can also connect Gemini to other Google apps, including Calendar, Notes, Tasks and Photos.

During the quarter, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced it would be partnering with Google’s Gemini products, giving the company high praise.

“No company is better at every single layer of computing than Google and Google Cloud,” Huang said.

Alphabet also had a number of announcements in autonomous driving.

In March, Waymo began offering robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, through the Uber app and opened up a waitlist in Atlanta. Those markets are just two of several more expected expansions in the U.S. this year.

Alphabet also made its largest acquisition ever in March when it agreed to buy Wiz for $32 billion in cash, almost $10 billion more than it offered for the startup in 2024, and said it expects the deal to close next year, subject to regulatory approvals. With the acquisition, Google will seek to bolster its cloud division’s security offerings. Google is behind Amazon and Microsoft in cloud market share, which may help the company’s argument to obtain regulatory approval.

Google this quarter also faced a slew of regulatory and legal challenges.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that Google held illegal monopolies in online advertising markets due to its position between ad buyers and sellers. The ruling represents a second major antitrust blow for Google. Last August, a judge determined the company has held a monopoly in its core market of internet search.

In April, the company reached a settlement with its employee union, where it agreed to reverse a policy forbidding employees from discussing antitrust litigation. The settlement, which marked a major victory for Google staffers, came ahead of Google’s remedy trial, which will determine the consequences of the search monopoly ruling over the next few weeks.

Education tech company Chegg in February filed a lawsuit against Google. Chegg claimed that Google’s “AI summaries” feature in search have hurt the online education company’s traffic and revenue. Similarly, Reddit in February claimed that Google’s search algorithm caused some “volatility” with user growth in the fourth quarter, but the company’s search-related traffic has since recovered, CEO Steve Huffman said.

WATCH: DOJ targets Google’s AI ambitions in high-stakes antitrust trial

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ServiceNow shares pop 15% on strong earnings, upbeat guidance

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April 24, 2025

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ServiceNow shares pop 15% on strong earnings, upbeat guidance

Bill McDermott, chairman and CEO of ServiceNow, speaks during an interview on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 26, 2023.

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

ServiceNow shares surged 15% on stronger-than-expected first-quarter results and an upbeat forecast despite the uncertain macroeconomic environment.

The enterprise technology company posted adjusted earnings of $4.04 per share on $3.09 billion in revenue. That topped a consensus estimate of $3.83 in earnings per share and $3.08 billion in sales, according to LSEG. Revenues grew about 19% from a year ago.

ServiceNow reported net income of $460 million, or $2.20 per share. That is up from $347 million, or $1.67 per share in the year-ago quarter. Current remaining performance obligations reached $10.3 billion, jumping 22% year over year. The company also lifted its full-year forecast.

“While our business remains strong, we are only flowing through part of those benefits into our full‑year outlook” to account for any pending risks from the geopolitical environment, the company said in a release.

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Shares of ServiceNow have slumped about 12% this year amid a volatile market environment. Investors this earnings season are laser-focused on how companies are managing the macroeconomic backdrop in the wake of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff plans. Another fear for some companies operating in the public sector is cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cost-cutting campaign.

Public sector business grew 30% during the period, which included 11 federal deals topping $1 million. CEO Bill McDermott said during the earnings call that the company has had “very positive” discussions with DOGE, which is run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Both DOGE and ServiceNow have a “shared ambition to transform government and the way it interacts with citizens,” he said. “The common thread is that ServiceNow is set up for sustainable growth as the market’s leading enterprise AI platform.”

Subscription revenue, which consumes a large chunk of the company’s revenues, came in at $3.01 billion, narrowly topping a $3 billion estimate. The company said it expects subscription revenues in the second quarter to range between $3.03 billion and $3.04 billion, ahead of a $3.02 billion estimate.

The digital workflows software provider said it ended the period with 508 customers totaling about $5 million in annual contract value.

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ServiceNow shares spike more than 7% on Q1 beat

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Adobe to launch mobile app for AI image generation tool as OpenAI steps up rivalry

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9 hours ago

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April 24, 2025

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Adobe to launch mobile app for AI image generation tool as OpenAI steps up rivalry

Adobe’s new artificial intelligence image models, Firefly Image Model 4 and Firefly Image Model 4 Ultra, can generate hyper-realistic pictures in response to user prompts.

Adobe

LONDON — Adobe plans to launch a mobile version of its artificial intelligence image generation tool Firefly, stepping up a challenge to OpenAI as the Microsoft-backed startup advances its efforts on visual applications for the technology.

The design software giant said Thursday at its MAX creativity conference in London that it will release Firefly on both iOS and Android “soon,” without giving a specific date.

“Creative people think on the go,” Alexandru Costin, vice president of Adobe Firefly, told CNBC in an interview. “One of the visions we have is for the Firefly mobile application to become a creative partner that sits with you all the time.”

Costin said that one way creatives could use its upcoming mobile app was to ask it to sketch up some ideas about an ad campaign while commuting to the office, so that by the time they arrive at work they’ve got a mood board to help them develop their thinking.

Adobe also announced the launch of its latest AI models, Firefly Image Model 4 and Firefly Image Model 4 Ultra, and said its new Firefly Video Model for video generation is now generally available.

The company said the new systems are capable of generating hyper-realistic pictures and videos in response to textual prompts in a “commercially safe” way, blocking the inclusion of any intellectual property.

Competition from OpenAI

It marks Adobe’s latest push to incorporate AI into its creative tool suite and comes as the company is increasingly facing competition from well-funded AI firms such as OpenAI and Runway.

Last month, OpenAI released a native image generation feature that went viral online for its ability to produce anime images in the style of animation studio Studio Ghibli and recreate people as toy dolls.

The tool saw such huge levels of demand that OpenAI boss Sam Altman warned it was melting the company’s GPUs (graphics processing units). “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT. But our GPUs are melting,” Altman said on March 27.

While Adobe’s Costin conceded that the competitive environment is heating up, he said the company isn’t shying away from partnering with the competition. For example, Adobe has partnered up with the likes of OpenAI, Google and Runway to add their AI image generation tools to Firefly.

“Competition is great,” Costin told CNBC. “We think there will be models with different personalities and capabilities.”

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