Homeland Security bans DeepSeek use in federal civilian agencies
The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, removed from all federal civilian agencies and their IT systems. The department cites the risk that data on government employees and vendors could be passed to the Chinese government.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for domestic security, has imposed a sweeping ban on the use of products from Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek across all federal civilian agencies and their information technology systems. The restriction was set out in a notice published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the US government. The decision comes a couple of days after DeepSeek released its latest AI model.
What the order requires
Civilian agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must now exclude any DeepSeek products from use and remove any related products already in place. The notice also bars DeepSeek from taking part in federal government contracts.
Security concerns
DHS described the risks as potentially leading to the transfer of sensitive data belonging to US government employees and vendors to the Chinese government. The department also said DeepSeek's models could contain malware or other security vulnerabilities.
Background
The order follows the release of DeepSeek's newest model, V4.1-Flash-1017, which the company described as smarter, faster and more efficient. It is not the first time the company has run into friction with the US government, particularly as its cheaper AI models begin to rival offerings such as ChatGPT and Gemini. Last year, two members of the US Congress proposed a bill that would ban DeepSeek's AI chatbot from government devices.
