Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices over security risk

Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices and systems over what it says is the security risk the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup poses.

DeepSeek stunned the world in January when it unveiled a chatbot which matched the performance level of US rivals, while claiming it had a much lower training cost.

Billions of dollars were wiped off stock markets internationally, including in Australia, where stocks tied to AI – such as chipmaker Brainchip – fell sharply overnight.

The Australian government has insisted the ban is not due to the app’s Chinese origins but because of the “unacceptable risk” it poses to national security.

DeepSeek has been approached for comment.

Australia’s move specifically requires any government entities to “prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services”, as well as remove any previously installed, on any government system or device.

That means a wide range of workers will not be able to use the tools in the country, including those working in such varied areas as the Australia Electoral Commission and Bureau of Meteorology.

It is less clear whether it means DeepSeek would be banned from public sector computers in different areas of the economy, such as schools.

The ban does not extend to devices of private citizens.

“This is increasingly the approach adopted by governments whenever there is any question over security,” said Kieren McCarthy from cyber intelligence firm Oxford Information Labs.

“It adds a political dimension to all new tech and heralds an end to the days when technology was king.”

Western countries have a track record of being suspicious of Chinese tech – notably telecoms firm Huawei and the social media platform, TikTok – both of which have been restricted on national security grounds.

The initial reaction to DeepSeek – which quickly became the most downloaded free app in the UK and US – appeared to be different.

President Donald Trump described it as a “wake up call” for the US but said overall it could be a positive development, if it lowered AI costs.

Since then, though, doubts about it have started to be voiced.

An Australian science minister previously said in January that countries needed to be “very careful” about DeepSeek, citing “data and privacy” concerns.

The chatbot was removed from app stores after its privacy policy was questioned in Italy. The Italian goverment previously temporarily blocked ChatGPT over privacy concerns in March 2023.

Regulators in South Korea, Ireland and France have all begun investigations into how DeepSeek handles user data, which it stores in servers in China.

The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has also said the US is now looking into possible security implications.

The US Navy has reportedly banned its members from using DeepSeek – though it has not confirmed this to the BBC.

Generally, AI tools will analyse the prompts sent to them to improve their product.

This is true of apps such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini as much as it is DeepSeek.

All of them gather and keep information, including email addresses and dates of birth.

However, security experts have previously warned that anyone working on confidential or national security areas needs to be aware of the risk of whatever they enter into chatbots being kept and analysed by the developers of those tools.

DeepSeek has also faced accusations it has unfairly used US tech.

OpenAI has complained that rivals, including in China, are using its own work to make rapid progress with their own products.