Australia has banned DeepSeek AI services from all government systems and devices, becoming one of the first countries to take direct action against a Chinese artificial intelligence startup that shook Silicon Valley and global markets this year.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement Tuesday that all DeepSeek products, applications and services would be removed from government systems on national security grounds effective immediately. A threat assessment by the country’s intelligence agencies found the technology posed an unacceptable risk, he said.
Founded in Hangzhou only 20 months ago, DeepSeek’s technology made waves in January with a new mobile app featuring its reasoning AI chatbot — which articulates its approximation of thought process and research before delivering a response — that seemed to suggest top-tier AI could be developed without huge investments in hardware. Its appeal took it to the top of worldwide download charts. However, doubts quickly arose about the security of the service.
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