Australia has ordered an immediate ban on the use of DeepSeek on all government equipment due to security concerns.
According to Reuters, the instruction, issued on Tuesday by the Department of Home Affairs, requires the withdrawal of all DeepSeek products, applications, and web services from Australian government systems.
Tony Burke, Minister of Home Affairs, called DeepSeek a “unacceptable risk” to government technology.
He went on to say that the restriction is necessary to “protect Australia’s national security and national interest”.
The prohibition, however, does not apply to private citizens.
Australia joins a growing number of countries investigating DeepSeek for potential security issues.
Italy’s privacy regulator recently shut down the AI service after the Chinese company failed to address concerns about its data policies.
Taiwan has also issued cautions about the risks of cross-border data transmission and potential information leaks.
Also, regulators in South Korea, Ireland, and France have initiated enquiries into DeepSeek’s data-handling procedures.
DeepSeek surged to global notoriety following the publication of its open-source AI platform, which demonstrated advanced human-like reasoning.
In January, it eclipsed OpenAI’s Chatgpt as the most popular free app on the App Store.
DeepSeek’s ascent upended the global technology landscape and financial markets.
Nvidia, the manufacturer of the technology used in DeepSeek, saw its market capitalisation fall by $500 billion as the stock market responded unfavourably to the Chinese app’s launch.
Following DeepSeek’s impact on the American stock market, US President Donald Trump praised China’s AI advances while framing it as a “wake-up call” for American technology companies.
He challenged the US industry to increase innovation and competition to maintain its lead in the global AI race.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, recently announced that the United States is also investigating the chatbot’s potential national security ramifications.
