The Australian government announced this week that it had banned Chinese AI tool DeepSeek from all Commonwealth computers and devices after being deemed “an unacceptable risk” to national security.
The government’s “decisive action” was “to protect Australia’s national security and national interest”, said Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. While acknowledging that AI is a technology “full of potential and opportunity”, Burke said: “the government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk”.
In response, the Chinese foreign ministry said the ban was a “politicisation of economic, trade and technological issues”.
The federal government has done well to act swiftly over concerns about the security risks surrounding DeepSeek said Toby Walsh – Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “It’s good to see government on the front foot about these concerns. Government was quick to jump on this risk.”
However, Walsh told GN no AI assistant should be trusted by government. “You shouldn’t be typing sensitive information into any chatbot, whether it be ChatGPT in the US or DeepSeek in China,” he said.
Since its launch mid-January, DeepSeek has attracted widespread attention over concern the user data collected is held and mined by the Chinese government.
Beijing has strongly denied that the app was being used to collect data. “The Chinese government … has never and will never require enterprises or individuals to illegally collect or store data,” a statement said.
States are following the federal government’s lead. The NSW government has directed public servants to stop using DeepSeek on government-owned devices, as has the SA government. Other Australian jurisdictions are considering following suit. Elsewhere, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea and the US have either blocked the app or warned agencies against using the tool.
While applauding Australia’s intervention, Walsh told GN – rather than restricting the technology – he would prefer to see Australia invest in a home-grown version of the tech. “Both the EU and India have just announced plans to spend tens of millions of dollars making their own sovereign foundation models,” he said.
DeepSeek made global headlines last week after becoming Apple’s most downloaded app and wiping US$1 trillion from the US tech index. Described as AI’s “Sputnik moment”, the model has paved the way for cheaper iterations of the tool.
“What you can take away from DeepSeek’s success in building a state-of-the-art model for just $6 million is that anyone can do it,” Walsh told GN, adding: “We could be profiting from this wave too.”
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