Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating a potential data leak involving the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, according to Bloomberg.

American companies Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating the potential unauthorized acquisition of technology data from the ChatGPT developer by a group linked to the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek.

This was reported by Bloomberg.

According to sources, in the fall, Microsoft security experts monitored a group of individuals suspected of having possible ties to DeepSeek.

As noted by informants, this group stole a significant amount of data through the application programming interface (API) of OpenAI.

Software developers can purchase a license that grants them access to the API for integrating OpenAI's artificial intelligence models into their own applications.

Sources state that Microsoft, as a technology partner of OpenAI and its largest investor, has already informed the company about the activities of this group.

Insiders suggest that such actions may violate OpenAI's terms of use or indicate attempts to bypass restrictions on the volume of data available after purchasing a license.

Recall that the Chinese startup DeepSeek, with its generative AI model DeepSeek-V3, has surpassed ChatGPT in the U.S., becoming the most popular free application in the American Apple App Store.

DeepSeek is the first startup to receive high ratings from the American tech community for its performance level, which matches or even exceeds that of leading AI models developed in the U.S.

On Monday, January 27, shares of American tech companies sharply declined in pre-market trading due to the success of the Chinese startup DeepSeek in the AI sector. The decline continued on Tuesday.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that the new Chinese artificial intelligence DeepSeek operates similarly to ChatGPT, but its communication with users on "sensitive" topics is significantly restricted by Chinese state propaganda.