Welcome to the Contact Center AI Association’s weekly newsletter. Our goal is to distill the week’s news that’s most important to CX leaders.

This edition focuses on:

1. Data concerns surrounding DeepSeek R1;

2. Notable job opportunities for CX leaders;

3. Upcoming webinar on deploying voice AI; and

4. Q1 In-person meeting in San Jose, CA.

Is Your Data Safe with DeepSeek R1?

Since last week, there’s been a lot of buzz around DeepSeek R1: both excitement and controversy. Many are impressed by its efficiency. Others worry about privacy risks.

The big question: Is your data safe with DeepSeek R1?

DeepSeek R1 is open-source. It can be hosted privately and follows the MIT license, which allows free commercial and academic use. (source, license)

When accessing DeepSeek through its official chat interface on the website or mobile app, user data is processed on DeepSeek’s servers, which are subject to China’s surveillance laws. These laws require companies to provide government access to user data upon request. (source)

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas clarified that when DeepSeek R1 is downloaded and hosted on private servers, the data stays with the host. "When you download those weights and bring it up yourself on your own server, you control the AI’s inference, and any user request sent to this server doesn’t go to China as long as the servers are in the US," he explained. (source)

Some US-based companies like Microsoft and Groq are taking advantage of this by providing access to R1 through their own cloud services.

Notably, Groq is a US-based company and explicitly assures that user query data is not stored persistently. According to Groq, when you send a query to DeepSeek R1 on their cloud, they “temporarily store it in memory and clear it as soon as your session is completed.” Groq also states that “your data won’t be sent to any DeepSeek servers in China.”​ (source)

Before concluding on this topic, there’s a related issue with DeepSeek R1 to be aware of. Security researchers report that when tested with 50 malicious prompts designed to elicit harmful content, DeepSeek R1 “did not detect or block a single one,” resulting in a 100% attack success rate in that experiment​. (source) This is worth noting as you consider use cases for R1.

Noteworthy Job Opportunities for CX Leaders

1. VP of Customer Experience, Radicle Health

Radicle Health is a company that invests in, grows, and operates essential software for human services organizations. They’re looking for a VP of CX to lead their 70+ person CX team across implementation, support, training, and success.

Check out the full job posting and apply here: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4137056401

2. VP, Customer Experience & Digital, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is hiring a Vice President, Customer Experience & Digital to help lead the overall strategy and execution of customer experience initiatives and digital efforts across the organization.

Check out the full job posting and apply here: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4138450615

CCAIA’s Q1 In-Person Meeting on March 21

Join us for the CCAIA Q1 In-Person Meeting in San Jose, CA, on March 21.

The Boardroom-style meeting will focus on "Learning from Launches." CX leaders will exchange insights from deploying AI in their operations.

There will also be a Q1 legal update narrowly focused on new regulations and recent litigation involving the use of AI in customer support.

It's an education-packed 2 hour meeting followed by an early dinner.

There is no recording or broadcast of the meeting. This encourages open and honest conversations. We will distribute the distilled insights through this newsletter.

There's no cost to attend. Also, CX leaders can have their flights & hotels paid for by sponsors.

But there's only 15 spots.

You can apply to attend here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzkD23SNTLdMuX4rRIoCNTLV6_gqOgcjusq4ZqAqTF45JNJA/viewform

LinkedIn Live Panel on Deploying Voice AI

We are organizing a LinkedIn Live event on deploying voice AI. There will be a panel of three CX leaders who have successfully deployed voice AI in their operations. And the moderator will be a CX leader that is interested in adopting voice AI.

We have 2 panelists and the moderator lined up. We are still seeking one more CX leader to participate on the panel. If you have successfully deployed AI in your own organization and would like to share insights, please send a message to the chairman of the Education Committee, Chafik Abdellaoui, on LinkedIn.

For the avoidance of doubt, we are not seeking a vendor to share how they have helped organizations deploy voice AI technology. Rather, we are looking for one more CX leader that has deployed voice AI in their own organization. There is no need to disclose which vendors your organization uses during the LinkedIn Live event.