Australia to ban controversial Chinese AI company DeepSeek from all government systems

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has dropped a bombshell regarding Chinese AI company DeepSeek after it shook the world last week.

Australia will move to ban the controversial Chinese AI company DeepSeek from all of its government systems and devices on national security grounds.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke dropped the bombshell on Tuesday night after the start-up sent stock markets into meltdown in recent weeks.

The announcement does not represent a ban for everyday users who may choose to use the technology but does raise serious privacy and national security concerns.

It is a similar regime that currently operates TikTok, where the technology is now used on government devices but some politicians do have private accounts.

“The Albanese Government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest,‘’ Mr Burke said.

“AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity – but the Government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk.

“Our approach is country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the Australian Government and our assets.”

Australia will move to ban the controversial Chinese AI company DeepSeek from all of its government systems and devices on national security grounds. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke dropped the bombshell on Tuesday night after the start-up sent stock markets into meltdown in recent weeks. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek recently revealed a ChatGPT-like AI model called R1 which claims to be operating at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s, Google’s or Meta’s popular AI models.

The company claimed it had spent just $5.6 million on computing power for its base model, compared with the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars US companies spend, sending shockwaves through markets.

DeepSeek is a free AI-powered chatbot that provides an alternative to ChatGPT.

DeepSeek’s AI models and apps have been banned by a growing number of countries and government bodies, which have expressed concerns over DeepSeek’s ethics, privacy, and security practices.

Which other countries have banned DeepSeek?

Italy was one of the first countries to ban DeepSeek following an investigation by the country’s privacy watchdog, Italy’s Data Protection Authority (DPA).

In response, DeepSeek claimed its apps didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of EU law prompting Italy to remove DeepSeek’s apps from the Apple and Google app stores in Italy.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has also claimed that DeepSeek “endangers national information security” and has banned government agencies from using the company’s AI.

U.S. congressional offices have also reportedly been warned not to use DeepSeek tech.

“To mitigate these risks, the House has taken security measures to restrict DeepSeek’s functionality on all House-issued devices,” The House’s chief administrative officer (CAO) said

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has banned software including DeepSeek and other Chinese companies from government-issued devices in the state.

US Spy agency The Pentagon has blocked access to DeepSeek technologies after defence officials raised concerns that Pentagon workers were using DeepSeek’s applications without authorisation. Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP)

US Spy agency The Pentagon has blocked access to DeepSeek technologies after defence officials raised concerns that Pentagon workers were using DeepSeek’s applications without authorisation.

NASA has also banned employees from using DeepSeek technology citing national security concerns.

“DeepSeek and its products and services are not authorised for use with NASA’s data and information or on government-issued devices and networks,” the memo said, per CNBC. “[Employees are not authorised to] access DeepSeek via NASA devices and agency-managed network connections.”

Ed Husic’s warning

The announcement follows a warning from Federal Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic against downloading DeepSeek.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Husic said DeepSeek’s advancements in the field was evidence of China’s “determination in this space”.

“China has been determined since the last decade to be a world leader in artificial intelligence,” he said.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise that they would try to develop a workaround to some of the restrictions that have been placed on them.”

Asked if he would download the app, he urged caution.

“I would be very careful about that,” he said.

“I don’t have TikTok on my government phone. I think these types of issues have got to be weighed up carefully.”

Originally published as Australia to ban controversial Chinese AI company DeepSeek from all government systems