“The federal government will soon, many aspects of the federal government, will do exactly what we’re asking them to do,” LaHood said.
LaHood’s bill with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) would ban DeepSeek use for federal employees on government-issued devices. We also scooped a similar bipartisan proposal out of the Senate as lawmakers are getting briefings on DeepSeek.
The concerns around the app have prompted over 10 states to take measures against the use of DeepSeek on government devices. Some sectors of the federal government, like the departments of Defense and Commerce, have also moved to ban the app.
DeepSeek made waves in Washington and Wall Street ever since it soared to the top of U.S. app stores earlier this year. The model, which exceeds some metrics against its American counterparts, was purportedly developed more cheaply and has been raising questions about how expensive it really is to produce AI products.
It’s also causing much uproar among China hawks in Washington as they claim the app poses a national security threat. LaHood and others say they’re worried about Beijing stealing Americans’ data through the app. And they claim that if the video-focused TikTok has insight into Americans, DeepSeek would be even more powerful given AI has the ability to suck up much more information out of users.
There are also concerns regarding free speech. DeepSeek tends to be less responsive to subjects that are sensitive in China, like the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
