The architect of Australia’s world-leading Huawei ban has warned against panic over the emergence of breakthrough AI platform DeepSeek, saying Chinese-made electric cars arguably pose a greater security worry.

Former Australian Signals Directorate deputy director-general for intelligence and network operations Simeon Gilding said it was too early to consider banning DeepSeek but cautioned this could change if China’s security services began trying to integrate the technology into critical infrastructure and services.