HOUSE LAWMAKERS PUSH TO BAN AI APP DEEPSEEK FROM US GOVERNMENT DEVICES

A bipartisan duo in the U.S. House is proposing legislation to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok.

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Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill. introduced the “No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” which would ban federal employees from using the Chinese AI app on government-owned electronics. They cited the Chinese government’s ability to use the app for surveillance and misinformation as reasons to keep it away from federal networks.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “We simply can’t risk the CCP infiltrating the devices of our government officials and jeopardizing our national security.”

The proposal comes after the Chinese software company in December published an AI model that performed at a competitive level with models developed by American firms like OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet and others. DeepSeek purported to develop the model at a fraction of the cost of its American counterparts. A January research paper about DeepSeek’s capabilities raised alarm bells and prompted debates among policymakers and leading Silicon Valley financiers and technologists.

The Associated Press previously reported that DeepSeek has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese stateowned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, according to the security research firm Feroot.

Gottheimer cited security concerns as the main reason for introducing the bill.