US Reps. push a bill to ban DeepSeek AI from government devices
3 Min Read
Fears over national security were sparked after CyberSec experts allegedly found code that forwards user information to servers of a state-owned Chinese telecom company.
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The Icon for the smartphone app DeepSeek is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (AP)
A Congress bill that would ban AI chatbot DeepSeek from US government devices will be introduced on Thursday, amid fears that the newly-developed app could be sending data to the Chinese government.
“This should be a no-brainer in terms of actions we should take immediately to prevent our enemy from getting information from our government,” Josh Gottheimer, one of the representatives presenting the bill said.
Under no circumstances can we allow a CCP company to obtain sensitive government or personal data,” said Darin LaHood, who is also developing the bill along with Gottheimer.
Previously, the US House of Representatives issued a memo calling staffers to avoid the use of the AI Chatbot which took the world by storm and formed a formidable rival to ChatGPT.
Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of the CyberSec company Feroot, unveiled hidden code that can send data to China Mobile servers, a state-owned telecom company, sparking concerns that DeepSeek is sending user information to China's government.
If the bill goes through, the United States wouldn't be the first country to ban DeepSeek on government devices, as Australia, Italy, and Taiwan have already done so, while countries like France are investigating whether the app is safe or not.
"The type of queries, type of questions, types of topics that you ask and analyze in DeepSeek makes a very, very sensitive, very personal profile" stressed Tsarynny to ABC News.
DeepSeek's Entry to the World
DeepSeek's entry into the world disrupted global markets by providing great performance at a lower cost than other chatbot models like ChatGPT, effectively putting DeepSeek on top of the AI leaderboard and proving itself as a rival to OpenAI's model which previously dominated the market.
The startup says that its model rivals those made by OpenAI while remaining cost-effective, thanks to the efficient use of Nvidia chips during training, despite all the bans the US put on China's acquisition of AI chips to hinder its development.
The AI Chatbot quickly became the top-ranking app on the App Store, reaching over 10 million downloads while costing 5.5 million dollars to create, 18 times less than the cost of ChaGPT 4.
DeepSeek's cheap infrastructure and open-source technology killed the notion that AI needs hefty sums of money and only the most breakthrough tech, making itself a breakthrough in the world of AI.
The impact of DeepSeek on stocks was shocking: Nvidia, one of the leading companies in AI chips, saw a 10% drop in its shares; Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 3.4%, and S&P 500 futures declined 2%.
OpenAI started looking for new partnerships following the abrupt rise of DeepSeek, and collaborated with South Korea's Kakao.
