By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
Australia has banned the use of Chinese startup DeepSeek AI across all government systems and devices, joining a string of other governments that have outlawed the startup on security risk.
The development reportedly follows a risk assessment that showed that the recently launched model posed a risk to the government and its assets. As a result, the Home Affairs Department secretary signed a directive banning the company and its products on all government and federal government systems based on advice from experts on the security threats the model posed.
Australia to ensure its staff will not reinstall DeepSeek
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who announced the ban, said the decision had nothing to do with the company’s Chinese origins but purely based on the risk assessment. He added that Australia’s approach was and remained “country-agnostic.”
“The Albanese government is taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest,” said Burke.
“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.
According to The Guardian, staff from government departments and agencies will be required to report to home affairs to ensure the app does not remain on their gadgets or is reinstalled.
DeepSeek shocked the world when it released a chatbot last month that matched the levels of already established US rivals. The startup claimed that its model was superior to the established models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini on some benchmarks. It also claimed it had lower training costs – $6 million, at a time when other AI firms poured larger sums of money into training their AI models.
As a result, stocks plunged the same week DeepSeek launched its other model, and billions of dollars were wiped off global stock markets including in Australia as AI-related stocks, for instance, chipmaking firms such as Brainchip.
From Tokyo to New York, investors sold off several tech stocks due to fears that the emergence of this low-cost Chinese AI model would threaten the current dominance of AI leaders like Nvidia, which also lost billions of dollars during that bloodbath.
Australia has always toughened its policies on Chinese tech products
Australia is not alone in its policies against Chinese tech products and services. DeepSeek in particular has faced condemnation from several countries. Australia’s ban follows Italy and Taiwan which have restricted access to the AI startup’s products and services.
The US government launched a probe into DeepSeek’s AI model to investigate data protection and data security concerns while in Ireland, its Data Protection Commission asked for further details on the startup’s operations.
Other regulators in South Korea and France have also started investigating how DeepSeek handles user data, which it stores in servers in China.
Earlier in January, a science minister in Australia Ed Husic warned that countries needed to be cautious about DeepSeek citing data and privacy concerns.
“I think there will be parallels to what you’ve seen with discussion around TikTok that emerge around DeepSeek as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if that emerges,” said Husic then.
However, outside DeepSeek AI, Australia has taken tough policies against Chinese companies in the past. In 2018, Australia left out Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from the country’s 5G infrastructure because of national security concerns. Two years ago, TikTok also faced a ban as Western countries have been suspicious of Chinese products and services.
Meanwhile, while DeepSeek is restricted on government devices, Burke indicated that Australian citizens could still remain cautious about their data privacy and digital presence.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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