US agencies have been ordered to remove artificial intelligence tools from Chinese startup DeepSeek - along with third-party tools built on DeepSeek - from government IT devices, as the two countries compete for dominance in the sector.

A Department of Homeland Security notice published Monday on the Federal Register said DeepSeek's models present "multiple threat vectors." The order initially went out in July. DHS warned the tools could collect personally identifiable information, "track or digitally fingerprint" users, and potentially carry malware or other vulnerabilities.

The agency said prompts and responses in some of DeepSeek's most widely used applications could transfer sensitive data to China when used by government employees or vendors, since its servers sit there and the legal system gives the government "extensive authority" to access private company infrastructure. DHS can direct civilian agencies but not the military or intelligence services.

DeepSeek drew global attention in January 2025 with a low-cost, high-performance chatbot, and later released its V4 model. Washington has accused DeepSeek and other top Chinese AI firms of stealing capabilities from American rivals. The two countries agreed to a communication channel for AI incidents when Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in September.

Source: The Hill