DeepSeek's message: Embrace open-source for wide benefits

The US may want to ban its tools but should ponder its approach

- CATHERINE THORBECKE

DeepSeek's moment of global glory is a double-edged sword, and it couldn't have come at a more geopolitically fraught time. The upstart grabbed global attention with its latest models, shocking Silicon Valley and investors with their capabilities and efficiency. But for a Chinese AI company with overseas ambitions, doing the technically impossible may be the easy part. If it wants to stay in the US market, its real challenges start now.

Given the fate of TikTok in the US and blacklisting of Tencent Holdings, I suspect it's only a matter of time before Hangzhou-based DeepSeek will face a US crackdown. It doesn't help that it stores data on Chinese servers. Or that animosity between Beijing and Washington runs high [now that a trade war is underway]. Regulators from Italy to Taiwan and Texas have started restricting the use of DeepSeek. Global scrutiny will only multiply. The national security arguments driving America's looming TikTok ban, which is currently experiencing a temporary reprieve thanks to US President Donald Trump, are only heightened when it comes to the GenAI tool. And its growing number of users—it shot to the top of US app stores over the past week—will raise global lawmakers' concerns that it could be used by Beijing to gather large swathes of user data or sway their opinions with its outputs.