The Chinese artificial intelligence application, DeepSeek, was unavailable in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) app stores in Italy on Wednesday, Reuters reported. This occurred a day after Italy's data protection authority sought information regarding the app's use of personal data.

The DeepSeek chatbot, known as R1, responds to user queries just like its U.S.-based counterparts. Early testing released by DeepSeek suggests that its quality rivals that of other AI products, while the company says it costs less and uses far fewer specialized chips than do its competitors.

AI chatbot DeepSeek has taken the world by storm, topping app store charts and sending Silicon Valley and Wall Street into meltdown. An offshoot of Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, DeepSeek’s cost-to-performance ratio makes for impressive reading compared to incumbents such as OpenAI.