CANBERRA, Australia (Kashmir English): Australia has barred the use of China’s DeepSeek chatbot on all government devices as it seeks to block “an unacceptable level of security risk” presented by China’s breakout artificial intelligence program, according to an official order.
Recently developed by a China-based technology startup, DeepSeek chatbot has astounded IT industry but countries like France, South Korea and Italy have expressed concerns about the program’s data practices and security.
But Australia’s move overnight appears to be the toughest by a government against the Chinese application.
“After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” read a directive by the Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster.
The directed further suggested all the non-corporate Commonwealth entities to “identify and remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on all Australian Government systems and mobile devices”.
It also required that “access, use or installation of DeepSeek products” be prevented across mobile devices and government systems.
The Canberra’s action remains the latest by governments from around the globe which have been turning a spotlight on the services of the Chinese startup.
DeepSeek causes ripples
DeepSeek particularly has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy, with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers.
Some countries like France, Australia, South Korea, Ireland and Italy have expressed concern about how DeepSeek handles personal data and what information is used to train DeepSeek’s AI system.
In 2018 Australia banned Chinese Huawei from its countrywide 5G network, citing countrywide safety concerns following the years of tech and trade spats between the two countries. It became the two countries experiencing their worst disaster in relations in decades.
