Australia has prohibited the use of DeepSeek AI services on all government systems and devices. It is one of the first countries to take action against this Chinese AI startup, which has made a significant impact on Silicon Valley and global markets this year. In a statement released on Tuesday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declared that, for national security reasons, all DeepSeek apps, services and products will be immediately removed from government servers.
“A threat assessment by the country’s intelligence agencies found the technology posed an unacceptable risk,” he said. DeepSeek, a company founded in Hangzhou just 20 months ago, gained attention in January with its new mobile app featuring a reasoning AI chatbot. This chatbot explains its thought process and research before giving answers, making it stand out. Many were impressed because it suggested that high-quality AI could be developed without massive spending on hardware. The app quickly became a global hit, topping download charts. However, concerns soon emerged about the security of the service.
“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,” Burke said in the statement. The government’s strategy was “country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the Australian government and our assets,” he added, averting any accusations that Australia was targeting the app due to its Chinese origins. Private citizens’ personal devices are not covered by the action. Murray Watt, the Minister of Employment and Workplace Relations, told Channel 7 on Wednesday that Australians would “read something into the fact that the government has decided that it’s not secure to have on government phones.”
“People might want to have a think about that when it comes to their personal phones,” he said. “We’d certainly be encouraging people to really get across the online privacy guidelines and rules that DeepSeek has and make a really good decision about whether they want to take that risk themselves.” Australia is not the first country to take action against DeepSeek. Italy’s privacy authority has ordered a ban to safeguard consumer data, while Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is seeking more details from the company. Additionally, hundreds of private companies have proactively blocked DeepSeek’s access, according to Bloomberg News last week.
In 2018, the Australian government took the lead in opting to bar Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese networking behemoth, from its 5G systems. This decision led to a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Canberra. China imposed trade sanctions on Australian goods during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak as a result of the dispute. Following the election of the centre-left Anthony Albanese government in May 2022, ties between the two nations have improved.
