Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices over concerns that the Chinese artificial intelligence startup poses security risks, the government said on Tuesday.
The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs issued a mandatory direction for all government entities to “prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek products, applications and web services and where found remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services from all Australian Government systems and devices,” the statement said.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said DeepSeek posed an “unacceptable risk” to government technology and the immediate ban was “to protect Australia’s national security and national interest,” several Australian media outlets reported on Tuesday
evening.
The science minister had warned in January that countries needed to be “very careful” about DeepSeek, citiing “data and privacy” concerns.
The ban implies employees in the election commission or bureau of meteorology will not be able to access DeepSeek tools.
The ban does not extend to devices of private citizens. It is less clear if DeepSeek will be banned from computers in schools.
Tech stocks worldwide plunged after the launch of DeepSeek last month – apparently costing a fraction of rival AI models and requiring less sophisticated chips – raised questions over the West’s huge investments in chip makers and data centres.
Australia’s decision to ban Deepseek follows similar action in Italy, while other countries in Europe and elsewhere are also looking into the AI firm.
Taiwan banned government departments from using DeepSeek earlier this week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’ government imposed a government-wide ban on Chinese social media app TikTok two years ago over security concerns.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US is also looking into the possible security implications of the Chinese AI model. The US Navy is reported to have banned its sailors and officers from using it.
With Reuters inputs
