The White House is considering taking restrictive measures against the Chinese artificial intelligence company “DeepSeek” for national security reasons. This may include banning the installation of its chatbot application with the same name on U.S. government devices.
The way DeepSeek handles user data has raised concerns among U.S. officials, who believe the company has not adequately explained how it uses the collected data and who can access this data.
Possible actions the federal government may take include prohibiting the download of DeepSeek chatbot applications on U.S. government devices; restricting the availability of DeepSeek applications on U.S. app stores; and limiting U.S. cloud service providers from offering DeepSeek’s AI models to customers.
Australia, Canada, and Taiwan have already ordered government devices to stop using DeepSeek, while Italy and South Korea have also imposed restrictions on the application. Federal agencies in the U.S., such as the Navy and NASA, have banned the use of DeepSeek applications. Furthermore, New York and Texas have begun to restrict its usage.
Despite this, DeepSeek’s AI models are open-source and can be freely downloaded and used, making a complete ban on its usage more challenging. Some U.S. cloud vendors are also providing these models to customers.
Previously, TikTok, the international version of the Beijing-based parent company, was banned from being used on government devices due to concerns related to U.S. national security. In the environment of strategic competition between the U.S. and China, there is an increasing trend in strict monitoring and restrictions on artificial intelligence technology from China for national security reasons.
(Reference: The Wall Street Journal)