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DeepSeek proves why society and policymakers need to understand how LLMs are integrated into technology

January 2025 (Updated April 2026)

The recent release of DeepSeek's R1 large language model is a prime example of the immediate need for wider society to understand how LLMs are integrated into the technology we use today.

Case in point: various governments have sought to regulate or ban employee and/or citizen's DeepSeek use, but what technology exactly are they referring to? Do policymakers intend to regulate:

- Downloading and/or usage of the standalone DeepSeek app, and/or

- Country-based app store availablity of the DeepSeek app, and/or

- Any use of DeepSeek models (self-hosted or APIs), and/or

- 3rd party apps (products/services) *built on top of DeepSeek models* (self-hosted or APIs)?

If you're confused, think about the people writing the policy.

Update April 2026: Over a year later, DeepSeek v4 has been released.

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⇒ HOME ⇒ ABOUT	Joy Larkin is a technologist in Silicon Valley. She likes robots and is excited for Superintelligence. LinkedIn: /in/joylarkin ◦◦◦ Twitter: @joy	The challenges of building agentic AI systems for business use cases