The Trump administration is reportedly “likely” to ban Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek from US government devices due to national security concerns.
As The Post reported, cybersecurity experts have warned that DeepSeek could pose an even greater threat to national security and the data privacy of American users than TikTok.
DeepSeek’s own terms of service reveal that it collects vast troves of user data ranging from IP addresses to keystrokes and then stores the information on servers in China – where they are subject to government laws requiring the startup to share data with investigators upon request.
US officials are specifically worried about that dynamic, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
They also believe that DeepSeek hasn’t fully explained how it uses the data it collects and who is able to access the sensitive information.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Aside from weighing a ban for DeepSeek downloads on government devices, officials are also mulling potentially barring the AI chatbot from US-based app stores run by the likes of Apple and Google or restricting US cloud computing firms from supporting access to the service for their customers, the Journal reported.
The sources reportedly said that discussions on those two alternative paths are still in their early stages.
DeepSeek upended the US tech sector earlier this year after releasing an AI model that it claimed to have trained for less than $6 million – raising fears that American firms like Google and OpenAI have overspent on the technology.
At one point, DeepSeek was the most-downloaded app in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
However, some experts, including Trump administration AI czar David Sacks and Elon Musk, have said DeepSeek’s claims are misleading and not a full accounting of its spending.
Last month, the state of New York banned DeepSeek from government devices due to what it described as “serious” concerns about “foreign government surveillance and censorship, including how DeepSeek can be used to harvest user data and steal technology secrets.”
The US Navy and NASA have also barred access to the app for their workers. A bipartisan bill seeking to ban DeepSeek from government devices also was introduced in Congress last month, but has yet to advance.
Congress banned TikTok over national security concerns after its Chinese parent ByteDance failed to divest by a Jan. 19 deadline.
However, President Trump issued an executive order delaying enforcement of the law by 75 days until a US buyer could be found.
On Thursday, Trump said he would “probably” extend the order if necessary.
