Banned! Governments Are Racing to Ban DeepSeek AI Model —Here’s Why

5th Feb 2025
Banned! Governments Are Racing to Ban DeepSeek AI Model —Here’s Why

The United States, Italy, Taiwan, Australia, and India are some of the countries that have placed a ban or restriction on the usage of the new DeepSeek AI model. These bans or restrictions come in various forms and intensities as you move from one of the previously mentioned countries to the other.

Why Are Various Countries Moving To Ban The New DeepSeek AI Model?

On 20 January 2025, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek launched their R1 reasoning model to rival local and international competition. Soon after the launch of this AI model, the internet went wild because it outperformed the likes of AI giant OpenAI.

However, with the growing fame of the R1 reasoning model came attention from global organizations. OpenAI on its part laid claims that DeepSeek trained the new R1 reasoning model using its in-house AI models.

Some researchers also highlighted security flaws in the new R1 reasoning model, raising safety concerns. Various countries are also following this trend of backlashes at DeepSeek.

The United States is one of such countries, and the government here has warned congress offices not to make use of the new DeepSeek AI model. According to an official notice to the US Congress, “Threat actors are already exploiting DeepSeek to deliver malicious software and infect devices.”

To curb the risk of falling prey to such exploitation, all House-issued devices in the US Congress are to not use DeepSeek software in any form. The Italian government on its part took deeper steps to rid DeepSeek from its region by removing DeepSeek’s app from the Play Store and App Store.

Italy’s reason for this is a result of concerns about how the Chinese AI firm handles user data. Taiwan is another country that has also banned usage of DeepSeek from government-issued devices over concerns that the app “endangers national information security.”

Australia and India have also taken similar steps to ban the Chinese AI firm’s app on all government-issued devices. However, India has taken things a step forward by also restricting the use of AI models like ChatGPT to protect the confidentiality of government documents.

Security Concerns Surrounding DeepSeek AI Model

The launch of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model was not only a wake-up call to Chinese AI firms but the global industry. While its launch shook the internet in good ways as its performance is impressive, it has a serious security downside that can’t be overlooked.

AI models like the R1 reasoning model from DeepSeek are expected to come loaded with a truckload of security features. These features will ensure that prompts from users and responses from the AI model are safe.

Regarding safety, DeepSeek has a long way to go in order to better compete with well-established AI firms like OpenAI and Google. The bans on the use of DeepSeek’s new R1 reasoning model by various countries should move the firm to improve upon the security of its AI model.

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