DeepSeek threat: ‘act now or be obliterated’, Tech Council warns

DeepSeek risks becoming a greater threat to national security than Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, a former innovation minister warns.

DeepSeek risks becoming a greater threat to national security than Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, former Victorian innovation minister Phil Dalidakis says. And the Tech Council of Australia warns the nation risks becoming obliterated in the artificial intelligence race without urgent government action.

China’s DeepSeek says it has developed an AI model that’s almost on par with the best US offerings, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for a fraction of the price and without using the world’s most advanced chips from Nvidia.

DeepSeek’s launch shocked global markets. Nvidia lost more than $US580bn ($927.34bn) from its market value on Monday after its shares tumbled 17 per cent. It clawed back more than half those losses on Tuesday after analysts began questioning DeepSeek’s claims.

Former Victorian innovation and trade minister Philip Dalidakis says DeepSeek could present a ‘far greater security and intelligence’ threat than TikTok.

Mr Dalidakis who now sits on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council and is managing partner at corporate advisory firm Orizontas is concerned about how quickly DeepSeek has become available.

“I was more than a little surprised to see the app was available for public access and download. It has the potential to be a far greater security and intelligence threat than TikTok,” Mr Dalidakis said.

“DeepSeek has the potential to pose a far greater danger than TikTok because it can foster misinformation, accumulate masses of information that can be used without the users knowledge or consent maliciously or nefariously and deliberately exploit vulnerabilities.”

Ray Canzanese, director of network security outfit Netskope Threat Labs, said he was already starting to see an “uptick” in DeepSeek in Australian businesses and warned of data risk issues.

Mr Canzanese said biggest issue that enterprises should be concerned about was employees testing the tool on their workplace devices, potentially putting sensitive data and information at risk, and triggering data policy violations.

“Interest in DeepSeek is rapidly trending up, but the challenge with this or any popular or emerging generative AI app is the same as it was two years ago: the risk its misuse creates for organisations that haven’t implemented advanced data security controls,” he said.

Federal Science Minister Ed Husic says he is taking advice from national security agencies about DeepSeek’s potential threats but it was too early to ban the AI model in a similar way the previous coalition government banned Chinese telco Huawei from Australia’s 5G rollout.

“I think there’ll be parallels to what you’ve seen in the discussion around TikTok that emerge around DeepSeek as well,” he said.

“We’ll clearly be informed by the advice of the national intelligence community in relation to threats as they might present at different points in time. How do we respond? How do we shape up that response? We’ll take that on board and deal with it then.”

The US banned TikTok under Joe Biden, citing security concerns, before Donald Trump reinstated the service last week via executive order, saying that he wanted America to have an ownership position in the popular app. Mr Trump told reporters on Monday that Microsoft was now in talks to buy TikTok but other US companies were also keen.

“There’s a lot of interest in TikTok, there’s great interest in TikTok,” he said, aboard Air Force One.

Tech Council of Australia CEO Damian Kassabgi.

Tech Council of Australia (TCA) chief executive Damian Kassabgi said the launch of DeepSeek underscored how rapidly technology and AI was evolving. He urged the Albanese government to “act now or risk Australia falling behind in AI development and adoption”.

“DeepSeek’s reported breakthrough shows that the AI landscape is highly competitive and rapidly evolving. To ensure Australia can keep up, we need co-ordinated action supported by a national plan,” Mr Kassabgi said.

“We support the Government’s National AI Capability Plan, which we began calling for in August 2023, but this work needs to be brought forward. Australia cannot wait for the plan to be finalised by the end of 2025.

“Development and adoption of AI in Australia could create up to $115bn in economic value annually and 200,000 jobs by 2030, according to Tech Council research. But realising these benefits will require the right policy settings and co-ordination with industry to ensure Australia is a competitive place to make and deliver technology products.”

Mr Kassabgi said the TCA recommends six urgent actions for the National AI Plan, including uplifting the workforce, education and training; investing in critical infrastructure and assets; catalysing AI investment and adoption; attracting and supporting breakthrough AI research; enabling pro-innovation regulatory environment, and enhancing international engagement.