Australia bans DeepSeek from government devices over security risk

Australia bans DeepSeek  from government devices over security  risk.
Not a valid attachment ID.
Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices and systems over the security risk  posed by the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI)  startup.
DeepSeek stunned the world in January when it unveiled a chatbot  that matched the performance of  its American rivals while claiming it  cost far less to train.
Billions of dollars  have been wiped off  global stock  markets, including in Australia, where  AI-related stocks  — such as chipmaker Brainchip  — plunged overnight.
The Australian government insisted the ban  was not  because of the  app's Chinese  origins, but because of the  "unacceptable risk" it poses to national  security.
DeepSeek has been  contacted for  comment. The Australian measure specifically requires  all government entities to  "prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and  internet services," as well as  to remove any  software already installed on any government  systems or  devices.
This means a wide range of  employees across the country will be  unable to use  these tools, including those working in areas as  diverse as the  Australian Electoral Commission and  the Bureau of  Meteorology.
It is less clear whether  this means DeepSeek  will be banned from public sector computers in different  parts of the economy, such as  schools.
The ban does not extend to private  devices.
"This is the approach governments  are increasingly taking whenever there is  a security concern," said Kieren McCarthy  of cyber intelligence firm Oxford Information  Labs. "This adds a political dimension to all new  technologies and heralds  the end  of the  era when technology was  king."
Growing and  well-known concerns
Western countries have a  history of being  wary of Chinese  technology – including telecoms firm Huawei and social media  platform TikTok  – which have been restricted on national security  grounds.
Initial reaction to DeepSeek  – which  has quickly  become the most downloaded free app in the UK and US  – appears to  have been mixed.
President Donald Trump described it as a  "wake-up call" for the  US, but said it could be a positive  development overall if it  reduces the costs of AI.
However, doubts have  since begun to be  expressed about it.
An Australian science minister  had already said in January that countries  should be  "very cautious" about DeepSeek, citing  "data and  privacy" concerns. The chatbot was removed from app stores after its privacy policy was questioned in Italy. The Italian  government had previously temporarily blocked ChatGPT  for privacy  reasons in March  2023.
Regulators in South Korea, Ireland and France have begun  investigating how DeepSeek handles user data, which it stores  on servers in  China.
White House  spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt also said the US  was now looking into  the potential security  implications.
The US Navy has banned its members from using DeepSeek -  although it  did not  confirm this to the  BBC. What data does DeepSeek  collect? Is China's AI tool as  effective as it  seems? Watch DeepSeek  Refuse to  Answer Tiananmen  Square Question
Typically, AI tools  analyze messages sent to them to improve their  product.
This is  as true  for apps  like ChatGPT and Google Gemini as it is  for DeepSeek.
They all collect and  store information, including email addresses and dates of  birth. However, security experts have  already warned that anyone working  in confidential or national security  fields should be aware of the risk  that everything they  type into  the chatbot will be stored and  analyzed by the developers of  these tools.
DeepSeek has also  been accused of abusing American technology.
OpenAI has complained that rivals, including China, are using its work to make rapid progress with their own  products.

[attachment deleted by admin]