US bans DeepSeek AI from civilian government use

The US government has ordered all artificial intelligence technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems. According to the BBC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) banned all use of DeepSeek within civilian government agencies and any technology built with its AI models. The ban took effect at the end of July and was announced publicly on Monday. SCMP reports that DHS also barred agencies from acquiring DeepSeek products and services, including those from affiliated entities.

The restriction applies to civilian agencies such as the Treasury, State, and Justice departments. The Department of Defense is excluded from the ban. The DHS notice did not specify the exact security concerns. The White House has criticized AI firms from China, and the White House tech lead Michael Kratsios wrote that “malicious exploitation” of American AI firms had been occurring. SCMP notes that the DHS cited national security risks as the reason for the order.

DeepSeek is an open‑source AI model that has become popular since its 2025 release. Its free chatbot app is among the most downloaded on the Apple App Store. The company’s models are used by US tech firms such as Snowflake, Vercel, and OpenRouter. DeepSeek’s training cost was about $6 million, compared with roughly $100 million for OpenAI’s GPT‑4. Users have praised the latest version for outperforming some OpenAI tools on common tasks.

The ban follows earlier criticism of Chinese AI by the Trump administration and by American firms. Anthropic and OpenAI have said their models were copied by Chinese firms, including DeepSeek. The US government’s action is part of a broader review of national security risks associated with Chinese AI. The DHS notice was issued by the Department of Homeland Security.