A bipartisan combo in the U.S. House is proposing legislation that would enact a ban on the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek from national devices, similar to the one that is currently in place for the well-known social media platform TikTok.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N. J., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., on Thursday introduced the” No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act”, which would ban federal employees from using the Chinese AI software on government-owned technology. They cited the Foreign government’s ability to use the software for misinformation and security as justifications to keep it away from national sites.
” The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will utilize any device at its leisure to destroy our national security, spew dangerous propaganda, and gather information on Americans”, Gottheimer said in a statement. We just can’t let the State compromise our national security by putting our government’s devices in danger.
The plan comes after the Chinese technology company released an AI type in December that outperformed those created by American companies like OpenAI, Meta, Alphabet, and people. The model’s creators claimed to have spent less than half as much as their British counterparts. A January research report about DeepSeek’s features sounded the alarm and sparked debates among senior Silicon Valley businessmen and technologists.
According to the protection research firm Feroot, the Associated Press recently that DeepSeek has computer code that could allow a Taiwanese state-owned telecommunications company to be prohibited from operating in the country.
The principal motivation behind introducing the bill was safety concerns, according to Gottheimer.
” It raised enough of an alarm for me to believe we should immediately ban it on all state products and make the risks known to the public. I think that’s a crucial first step”, Gottheimer told The Associated Press. ” Americans really know the impact on their individual privacy and data, mainly because we know that Americans are sharing specialized information on AI bots, highly sensitive information, files, contracts, and the like”.
Gottheimer added that Congress should conduct further investigation into DeepSeek’s security features and that he wished all members of Congress were informed of its capabilities.
The churn over AI comes at a time when China and the United States are competing more vigorously in a variety of fields, including industrial development. China’s tech companies like Huawei are prohibited from being used in government systems by the United States, and the trade of state-of-the-art computers are prohibited.
The popular social media app TikTok’s sale to its Chinese parent organization was last year by Congress and then-President Joe Biden, but that decision is now being put on hold. In his first term, President initially suggested that the application be banned, but he signed an next month that extended the time frame for a long-term solution before the constitutionally mandated ban becomes effective.
In 2023, Biden TikTok from federal-issued equipment.
The Chinese Communist Party and the United States are competing for attention in a tech culture, LaHood said in a statement. The organization is attempting to access entry secret businesses, but this commonsense, nonpartisan piece of legislation will ban the software from federal employees ‘ devices. It is crucial that Congress protect Americans ‘ information and maintain its leadership in AI.
The bill would ban DeepSeek and any AI program created by its parent company, the hedge fund High-Flyer. The legislation makes exceptions for exploration and national security that would allow federal companies to analyze DeepSeek.
Some politicians wish to go further. A bill proposed last week by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would bar the transfer of trade of any AI technologies from China writ large, citing national security concerns.
Many countries have moved to ban DeepSeek’s AI talk bot, either wholly or on authorities products, citing security concerns.
Italy’s data security expert announced an exploration into the businesses behind the chatbot last month and temporarily blocked access to the application in a move it claimed had protect people ‘ information. Taiwan made this week that it had banned state agencies from using Deepseek’s AI. Additionally, the North Korean government’s business ministry has temporarily blocked game access for employees. Australia announced this week that it had banned DeepSeek from state systems and devices.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order banning both DeepSeek and RedNote– a Taiwanese TikTok alternate– from the state’s government-issued products.
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Byron Tau and Sarah Parvini of the Associated Press both contributed monitoring.