Mounting concerns over DeepSeek’s collection and use of personal information, coupled with escalating security issues, has prompted the U.S. Navy and Congress to ban internal use of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup’s technology.
In an email issued Friday, the Navy informed “shipmates” that DeepSeek’s AI models were not to be used “in any capacity”…”for any work-related tasks or personal use” because of their “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage.”
“We would like to bring to your attention a critical update regarding a new AI model called DeepSeek,” said the email, sent to OpNav, which stands for Operational Navyemail. The Navy confirmed the authenticity of the message to CNBC.
Congressional offices, meanwhile, are being urged not to use DeepSeek on any official phones, computers and tablets as the legislative body copes with security and administrative challenges posed by advances in AI technology.
“At this time, DeepSeek is under review by the CAO and is currently unauthorized for official House use…To mitigate these risks, the House has taken security measures to restrict DeepSeek’s functionality on all House-issued devices,” the House’s Chief Administrative Officer said in a note to congressional offices obtained by Axios.
It’s a worry that has dogged Congress for a few years. In 2023, the CAO placed restrictions on the use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT limiting offices’ use to the paid version of the chatbot for certain tasks.
The Navy and Congressional office announcements – on the heels of DeepSeek bans in Italy and Ireland – signal deep concerns over DeepSeek’s powerful new reasoning AI model, R1, which rivals technology from OpenAI, Meta Platforms Inc., and Anthropic. Systems administrators genuinely fear the open-source, low-cost model is more susceptible to security breaches. Indeed, DeepSeek has secured a “completely open” database that exposed user chat histories, API authentication keys, system logs, and other sensitive information, Wiz researchers found in a report released Wednesday.
DeepSeek’s problems do not end there. The company is also being investigated by U.S. officials to determine if it skirted American export restrictions on advanced chip sales and bought advanced NVIDIA Corp. chips through third parties in Singapore, Bloomberg reported Thursday. [China and companies based in the country are prohibited from importing high-end NVIDIA chips intended for AI projects.]
Angst over the sudden rise of DeepSeek, which has rocked Silicon Valley and roiled Wall Street, extends to the White House.
President Donald Trump said the sudden rise of DeepSeek, which coincided with his return to office, “should be a wake-up call” for American tech companies.
