The U.S. Commerce Department has banned the Chinese-based AI-powered chatbot Deepseek from all government-owned devices.
In a mass email that was circulated among the department’s staff, the importance of adequately protecting departmental information systems was emphasized.
“To help keep Department of Commerce information systems safe, access to the new Chinese-based AI DeepSeek is broadly prohibited on all GFE [Government Furnished Equipment],” the email said. “Do not download, view, or access any applications, desktop apps, or websites related to DeepSeek.”
The Chinese-based AI company, right from its R1 ‘reasoning’ model launch in January that caused quite some stir in the AI industry, quickly emerged as a threat to American-based AI companies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In the wake of the realization of its threat are the concerns and the risks its privacy policy poses.
Immediately after the novel model launch, South Korea removed Deepseek from its App Store, and prohibited its citizens from downloading the app. Countries like France, Italy, and Australia also followed suit by asking important questions about potential data misuse as the Chinese company’s privacy policy seems to be porous. Australia, Italy, as well as Taiwan banned its usage on all government devices.
Right from the Chinese company’s new model launch in February, U.S. Congress officials and members have explicitly expressed concerns about the threat Deepseek poses to U.S. critical infrastructure sectors.
These concerns may be valid as many cyberattacks launched against the U.S. critical infrastructure sectors were said to have been by many Chinese-state sponsored threat actors, including The Salt Typhoon Campaign, and APT27, amongst many others.
The first steps to ban the usage of Deepseek in the U.S. were taken by two congressmen who are members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — Josh Gottheimer and Darin LaHood. These two representatives introduced legislation to ban Deepseek on all government-owned devices in February.
In a letter dated March 3, they then addressed and sent letters to U.S. governors urging them to ban Deepseek on all government-furnished equipment.
“By using Deepseek, users are unknowingly sharing highly sensitive, proprietary information with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] — such as contacts, documents, and financial records,” Gottheimer and LaHood wrote. “In the wrong hands, this data is an enormous asset to the CCP, a known foreign adversary.”
For the U.S., we expect to see a spread of this ban to every government department and each state based on this legislation, as a coalition of 21 state attorneys general has implored Congress to pass the legislation. But for now, only the U.S. Commerce Department and states like Virginia, Texas, and New York have enacted prohibitions.
