The News
India’s finance ministry on Wednesday asked employees to “strictly avoid” using DeepSeek, joining a host of other countries and companies placing restrictions on the Chinese AI startup’s services over national security concerns.
The advisory, which also warned employees not to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT citing risks to the “confidentiality of government data and documents,” came as OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman was set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India to discuss a potential partnership.
New Delhi’s warning followed Australia’s decision to ban DeepSeek on all government systems and devices, saying the tech posed an unacceptable risk. Canada-based security researchers said that DeepSeek may be scraping sensitive user data for China Mobile, a company banned from operating in the US due to its ties with the Chinese military, The Associated Press reported.
Beijing, which has not commented on India’s decision, slammed Australia for its “politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues,” as world leaders and CEOs are set to gather in Paris next week to try and reach a consensus on the development and sale of AI products.
Governments in the US, Italy, and Taiwan have also banned the tech, or warned against its use, and according to Bloomberg, “hundreds” of private companies with ties to governments have restricted their employees’ use of DeepSeek.
