Because of national security concerns, the Trump administration is apparently “likely” to ban the Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek from US government equipment.
According to The Post, cybersecurity experts have cautioned that DeepSeek may be an even bigger threat than TikTok to American consumers’ data privacy and national security.
According to DeepSeek’s own terms of service, it gathers enormous amounts of user data, including IP addresses and keystrokes, and keeps it on servers in China. There, the firm is obligated by law to provide investigators with the data upon request.
The Wall Street Journal was informed by people familiar with the situation that US authorities are particularly concerned about that dynamic.
Additionally, they think that DeepSeek has not adequately disclosed how it uses the information it gathers and who has access to the private data.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the White House.
In addition to considering a ban on DeepSeek downloads on government-owned devices, officials are considering preventing the AI chatbot from being available in US app stores operated by companies like Apple and Google or limiting US cloud computing companies’ ability to provide their clients with access to the service, according to the Journal.
According to the sources, talks on those two different routes are still in their infancy.
When DeepSeek released an AI model earlier this year that it claimed to have trained for less than $6 million, it completely upended the US tech industry and sparked concerns that American companies like Google and OpenAI had overspent on the technology.
DeepSeek used to be the most downloaded app from both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
But according to certain experts, such as Elon Musk and David Sacks, the AI czar for the Trump administration, DeepSeek’s claims are false and do not fully account for its expenditures.
Because of “serious” worries about “foreign government surveillance and censorship, including how DeepSeek can be used to harvest user data and steal technology secrets,” the state of New York banned DeepSeek from government computers last month.
Additionally, the US Navy and NASA have prohibited their employees from using the app. Last month, a bipartisan bill was submitted in Congress to prohibit DeepSeek from being used on government equipment; however, it has not yet progressed.
After TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, failed to sell by a deadline of January 19, Congress blocked the app due to national security concerns.
Why did Trump just create a strategic reserve for cryptocurrency?
However, in order to find a US buyer, President Trump issued an executive order that delayed the law’s enforcement by 75 days.
Trump stated on Thursday that he would “probably” extend the order if it were necessary.