The Department of Homeland Security has issued a sweeping restriction banning DeepSeek use across all federal civilian agencies and their IT systems. The order, published in the Federal Register, cites risks of sensitive data transfer to the Chinese government and warns that DeepSeek's models could "contain malware or other security vulnerabilities."
Following the order, civilian agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Communications Commission must exclude any DeepSeek products and remove existing related products. The notice also disallows DeepSeek from participating in any federal government contracts.
The DHS order comes shortly after DeepSeek released its latest model, V4.1-Flash-1017, which the company described as "smarter, faster, more efficient."
This is not the first time the Chinese AI company has faced friction with the US government, especially as its cheaper AI models begin to rival ChatGPT and Gemini. Last year, two US Congress members proposed legislation to ban DeepSeek's AI chatbot from government devices.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing