BRUSSELS, Jan 30 (Reuters) - France's privacy watchdog

said on Thursday it will question DeepSeek to gain a better idea

of how the Chinese startup's AI system works and any possible

privacy risks for users.

DeepSeek attracted global attention after writing in a paper

last month that the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than

$6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips.

"The CNIL's AI department is currently analysing this tool,"

a spokesperson for the French watchdog said.

"In order to better understand how this AI system works and

the risks in terms of data protection, the CNIL will question

the company that offers the DeepSeek chatbot," they added.

The French watchdog is one of the most active in Europe and

has fined Google and Meta Platforms ( META ), among others.

Italy's data protection authority said earlier this week it

was seeking answers from DeepSeek on its use of personal data,

while Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it has requested

information from the Chinese company about data processing

conducted in relation to Irish users.

Europe has been particularly protective of privacy rights

and its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is widely

regarded as one of the most comprehensive and stringent data

privacy laws in the world.

GDPR breaches can lead to fines up to 4% of a company's

total global turnover.

The 27-country European Union last year agreed to landmark

rules which impose strict transparency obligations on high-risk

AI systems and lighter ones for general-purpose AI models.

Fines for violations range from 7.5 million euros, or 1.5%

of turnover, to 35 million euros or 7% of global turnover

depending on the type of violations.