US bans DeepSeek AI across civilian government agencies
A Homeland Security order made public on Monday bars civilian agencies from using the Chinese company's models or any technology built with them, deepening the US-China tech rivalry.
The US government has banned the use of DeepSeek's artificial intelligence models across its civilian agencies, along with any technology built with their help. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made the order public on Monday, although the ban has been in force since the end of July. It applies to civilian departments including the Treasury, the State Department and the Justice Department; agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded.
The DHS notice did not spell out the security concerns behind the decision. It follows repeated criticism of Chinese AI from the Trump administration: White House technology chief Michael Kratsios wrote in an internal memo earlier this year that "malicious exploitation" of American AI companies had been taking place, mainly by rivals in China. Anthropic and OpenAI, both expected to list on the stock market in the coming months, have also claimed that some Chinese firms, including DeepSeek, effectively copied their models.
DeepSeek has been seen as a disruptive force since its first public release in 2025, because its powerful models are open source and cheaper to use. Its free chatbot app has been among the most downloaded in Apple's App Store, and its models are used by US tech companies such as Snowflake, Vercel and OpenRouter. DHS, DeepSeek and the Chinese embassy in Washington had been asked for comment. Source: BBC News