News: Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) are introducing a bill to ban Chinese AI platform DeepSeek on government devices.
The bill, titled the ‘‘No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act,” would empower OMB Director Russ Vought to remove the application from government information systems.
The bipartisan effort reflects the growing fear in Washington that the increased popularity of DeepSeek as an AI alternative could pose national security threats. The company behind the Chinese algorithm described its cost of development as a fraction of comparable U.S. systems, but DeepSeek also adheres to Chinese censorship.
Capitol Hill largely assumes the claims from DeepSeek vastly understate the model’s true cost.
The bipartisan trio shares the concerns of many experts that DeepSeek collects data on its users and distributes it to the Chinese Communist Party and associated intelligence agencies.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) have introduced a House version of the DeepSeek bill.
The push to ban DeepSeek comes after lawmakers successfully banned TikTok, another Chinese-associated technology platform, from government devices.
Other top senators are taking notice of DeepSeek’s potential dangers. Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called on Vought to ban the use of DeepSeek and other Chinese-developed AI tools in government agencies. OMB and the Intelligence panel have been in talks on the issues, we’ve learned.