The Japanese government has warned its ministries and agencies to refrain from using artificial intelligence developed by the Chinese startup DeepSeek amid widespread concerns about the company’s handling of personal information.

DeepSeek emerged in January, surprising many in the technology industry with its capabilities, which reportedly come close to rivals but at a far lower cost.

DeepSeek shot to the top of the app-store charts—and triggered a brutal stock market selloff—last week. But the Chinese artificial-intelligence chatbot could soon face the same fate as TikTok. Lawmakers are planning to introduce a bill Thursday that would block the app from government-owned devices,