The number of users of a new AI chatbot from the Chinese startup DeepSeek has sharply decreased in South Korea, with public agencies and companies blocking access to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) service.

According to the market data analysis firm IGAWorks on Sunday, the number of daily users of DeepSeek, which reached 191-thousand-556 on January 28, dropped by nearly half to 96-thousand-751 on January 30.

The figure dipped further to about 74-thousand on February 4, when government agencies and financial institutions began to block access to the Chinese AI service.

New installations of the DeepSeek application, which reached 171-thousand-257 on January 28, also plunged to about 67-thousand the following day and to some 20-thousand on February 4.

In comparison, the number of daily users of OpenAI's ChatGPT climbed to nearly 740-thousand on February 4 from about 605-thousand on January 28.