The Department of Homeland Security has banned DeepSeek AI from civilian government agencies. The order, effective since late July, excludes the Department of Defense.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered the removal of all artificial intelligence (AI) technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek from most government systems. The ban applies to civilian government agencies and any technology built with the aid of DeepSeek's AI models.
The DHS made the order public on Monday, but the ban took effect from the end of July. The restriction is specific to civilian agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State and the Department of Justice. Agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded from this order.
While the DHS notice did not detail the exact security concerns surrounding DeepSeek, the White House has this year criticised AI firms from China. The DHS, DeepSeek, and the Chinese embassy in Washington DC have been contacted for comment.
The ban follows criticism of Chinese AI from the Trump administration and from American firms. White House tech lead Michael Kratsios wrote earlier this year in an internal memo that "malicious exploitation" of American AI firms had been occurring, mainly by rival firms in China.
Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which are poised to list on the public stock market in the coming months, have also claimed to have had their AI models essentially copied by some Chinese AI firms, including DeepSeek. US president Donald Trump has made clear that he sees China as the key US rival when it comes to development of AI, something he sees as crucial to the future of the country.
DeepSeek has grown in popularity since its initial public release in 2025, with models being in such demand that the company's servers have gone down at times. The AI model is open source, meaning it is free to access and less expensive to use. DeepSeek's free chatbot app is one of the most downloaded apps in the Apple App Store rankings, and its AI models are also used by US tech companies. Companies like Snowflake, Vercel and OpenRouter all incorporate DeepSeek in their offerings to customers.
For a technology or AI developer, using DeepSeek in their work costs a fraction of what a closed model like Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's Codex would. Last year, DeepSeek said it took about $6m (£4.5m) to train the debut version of its model, while the costs associated with OpenAI's GPT-4 were roughly $100m. Such revelations sent tech stocks tumbling.
The most recent version of DeepSeek was released last week. Users of the model have praised it online, saying it beats even the most advanced AI tools out of OpenAI on common tasks for AI tools like computer software coding.
The exclusion of the Department of Defense from the ban highlights a distinction in how the US government handles AI security across different sectors. The move underscores the ongoing tension between the adoption of cost-effective open-source AI models and national security concerns regarding Chinese technology. As DeepSeek continues to gain traction globally, its integration into US commercial tech stacks contrasts with its prohibition in federal civilian operations.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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