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In light of security and data collection risks, Taiwan has announced a ban of the use of Chinese AI DeepSeek in government departments.
Taiwan, which has always been wary of Chinese technology due to the political tensions between it and China and Beijing's claims of sovereignty over the nation, announced last week that it recommended the government not to use DeepSeek.
The technology is believed to present a security risk, collecting input data as well as responding to queries with answers that are biased towards China and not speaking on controversial Chinese matters.
Now, strengthening its position on its comments last week, announcing that the technology has been banned for use in government.
"DeepSeek's AI service is a Chinese product, and its operation involves cross-border transmission and information leakage and other information security concerns, and is a product that jeopardises the country's information security," said the nation’s Ministry of Digital Affairs.
Australia has been recommended to also restrict the use of the technology in government by cyber security firm CyberCX.
Citing that it is highly likely that the Chinese government has their hands on DeepSeek's models and the data they collect, CyberCX issued a warning against DeepSeek’s use.
“We assess it is almost certain that DeepSeek, the models and apps it creates, and the user data it collects, is subject to direction and control by the Chinese government,” wrote CyberCX.
“We assess with high confidence that the DeepSeek AI Assistant app…produces biased outputs that align with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strategic objectives and narratives [and] collects user personal information from their device and collects prompt information entered by users and stores this information in China.”
CyberCX also recommends that organisations, particularly government agencies, critical infrastructure organisations and those storing personal information and commercially sensitive data should consider restricting access to DeepSeek and advise their staff about the dangers of its use.
DeepSeek bans appear to be popping up around the world. Following an investigation into the Chinese AI company’s handling of personal data, Italy was one of the first countries to ban the AI.
The nations Data Protection Authority determined that its practices were not in accordance with the GDPR and gave the company 20 days to respond to questioning. DeepSeek then said its apps and services were not under the jurisdiction of the GDPR and EU legislation. When Italy disagreed, DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the Apple and Google stores locally.
Late last month, Governor of Texas Greg Abbot issued a ban that prohibited government use of social media apps and AI that were believed to be connected with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP).
"Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps," said Governor Abbott.
"To achieve that mission, I ordered Texas state agencies to ban Chinese government-based AI and social media apps from all state-issued devices. State agencies and employees responsible for handling critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information must be protected from malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party. Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS and the Department of Information Resources to update the list of state prohibited technologies, preventing state contractors and employees from using them.
DeepSeek was named specifically, alongside RedNote, Webull, Lemon8, Moomoo and Tiger Brokers.
Other US organisations that have banned, restricted or recommended against the use of DeepSeek include NASA, the Pentagon and the US Navy.
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