Weekly ChatGPT users surpass 2 mn in South Korea for 1st time

Seoul, Feb 23
The number of weekly users of OpenAI's ChatGPT in South Korea exceeded 2 million for the first time this month, data showed on Sunday, after the government temporarily suspended the local service of China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) over concerns of its data management.

The mobile ChatGPT application had 2,025,546 users in the first week of February and further advanced to 2,092,797 users last week, according to the data compiled by industry tracker IGAWorks.

ChatGPT had maintained its weekly user base at around 1.5 million in the beginning of the year, reports Yonhap news agency.

With the advent of DeepSeek, the weekly users of ChatGPT rose, along with that of its Chinese competitor, reaching 1,804,499 users in the last week of January.

The recent surge in ChatGPT users came as public institutions and private companies in South Korea began banning the use of DeepSeek over security concerns.

The Personal Information Protection Commission temporarily suspended new downloads of the Chinese AI app on Monday, citing concerns about its data collection practices.

Consequently, the number of ChatGPT users jumped to 829,459 on Monday, compared with 760,766 tallied the previous day, according to the data.

The number increased further to 855,979 on Tuesday, with the upward trend likely to continue for the time being, according to IGAWorks.

Meanwhile, South Korea will push to develop its own version of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot created by US-based OpenAI, acting President Choi Sang-mok said, pledging full-scale government support for research and development (R&D).

Choi made the remarks during a high-level committee meeting aimed at positioning South Korea among the world's top three AI powerhouses. The committee was established to foster collaboration between the government and the private sector.

He pointed to the emergence of DeepSeek, a large-scale AI model developed by a Chinese startup, as both a potential risk and a new opportunity for South Korea, which is considered a latecomer in the sector.

"The government will provide full support for the development of world-class AI models," Choi said.

—