Two bipartisan members
of the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed legislation to ban the use of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) application DeepSeek on federal government devices, similar to the policy already implemented for the popular social media platform TikTok. Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Republican Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois introduced the No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act on Thursday (February 6). The bill would prohibit federal employees from using the Chinese artificial intelligence application on government electronic devices. They argued that the Chinese government is able to use the app for surveillance and spread false information, so it should be excluded from federal networks.
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“The Chinese Communist Party has made it clear that it will use any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spread harmful false information, and collect data on Americans,” Rep. Gottheimer said in a statement. “We simply cannot risk allowing the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate the devices of our government officials and endanger our national security.”
The Chinese software company previously released an artificial intelligence model in January this year, whose performance is comparable to models developed by American companies such as OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet. DeepSeek claims that it developed the model at a fraction of the cost of its American counterparts. The announcement sounded alarm bells and sparked debate among policymakers and major Silicon Valley financiers and technology experts.
.Amid
the uproar over artificial intelligence, competition between China and the United States in a range of areas, including technological innovation, is intensifying. The United States has imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, restricted the use of equipment from Chinese technology companies such as Huawei for government systems, and banned the export of the most advanced microchips considered necessary for the development of the most advanced artificial intelligence models.
The U.S. Congress and then-President Joe Biden approved last year that the popular social media platform TikTok be separated from its Chinese parent company or face a nationwide ban; this policy is currently on hold. TikTok is the overseas version of the Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin, whose parent company is ByteDance. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month extending the deadline for implementing the law to find a long-term solution. Trump proposed banning the app during his first term.
Biden is banning TikTok on federally issued devices in 2023.
“The technology race with the Chinese Communist Party is one America can’t afford to lose,” Rep. LaHood said in a statement. “This common-sense, bipartisan legislation would ban the app from federal workers’ phones while closing the backdoor operations the company used to try to exploit access. It’s critical that Congress protect Americans’ data and continue to ensure America’s leadership in AI.”
The bill would target any AI apps developed by DeepSeek and its parent hedge fund High-Flyer for the ban. The bill includes exceptions for national security and research purposes, allowing federal employers to study DeepSeek.
Some lawmakers want to go further. A bill introduced last week by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri would ban the import or export of any AI technology from China for national security reasons.