AI News Monitor

DeepSeek’s ability to act as Chinese spying tool raises national security concerns as authorities begin to take action…

The latest success of DeepSeek has now heightened tensions on national security in the US and Europe.

The Chinese model put a big question mark on US AI supremacy this week, sending tech stocks tumbling and eager users rushing to download it. The app rose to the top of Apple’s charts as the most downloaded free app on iPhone, surpassing ChatGPT.

Western authorities are now concerned about the implications amid the long tussle with China and other Eastern powers. The US Navy has already issued orders banning its members from using DeepSeek’s AI model, whether for work-related tasks or for personal use.

According to the memo, they are to “refrain from downloading, installing, or using the DeepSeek model in any capacity.”

Italy has also blocked access to DeepSeek, becoming the first country to implement a nationwide ban. The app can no longer be downloaded on Apple’s or Google’s app stores in Italy—although those who have already downloaded it still have access. And as reported by the Guardian, the UK government is monitoring the threat posed by the new AI platform and will not hesitate to impose a ban as soon as it becomes necessary.

The alarm has risen because DeepSeek AI collects data from its users and stores it on servers in China, according to the app’s privacy policy. It is well known in the West that Chinese law requires every organization operating in the country to cooperate with national intelligence efforts. The US and its allies have for a long time been extremely sensitive to how China could leverage apps to collect data from citizens and spy on the West.

TikTok is already in a long saga with the US government due to concerns about the control wielded over its owner, ByteDance, by China. The app was banned in the US this month, but President Trump signed an order suspending the ban. TikTok remains in limbo as its ultimate fate is yet to be decided. DeepSeek AI may soon follow that path. Some analysts think that this is only right, especially as the US-based ChatGPT isn’t available on the same scale in China.

Policy makers in the US will be weighing up the positives and downsides of imposing a nationwide ban on DeepSeek AI. In any case, it is certain to increase tensions between the US and China on national security measures.

Discussions on a TikTok ban in the US have been ongoing for many months, yet the app remains very much in use. DeepSeek’s AI model may well show the same tenacity. Its open-sourcing is attractive to developers, so there might be a struggle to let it go. Key decision makers are likely to have serious headaches over this for months to come.