The United States Congress has banned its employees from using DeepSeek, the Chinese Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, Axios reported. The measure is due to the administrative and security challenges posed by the rapid evolution of AI technology.
The Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives warned employees that DeepSeek is under review and currently not authorized for official use in the institution. The existence of "actors" using DeepSeek to distribute malicious software was mentioned.
To mitigate the risks, security measures have been implemented to restrict DeepSeek's functionality on all devices issued by Congress. Employees are prohibited from installing DeepSeek on official devices such as phones, computers, or tablets.
In the past, Congress had already established limitations on the use of AI products. In 2023, the use of ChatGPT was restricted. Departments were instructed that they could only use the premium version of this chatbot for certain specific tasks.
DeepSeek has generated controversy in the AI community with the launch of its V3 model, which was reportedly developed in just two months at a cost of under 6 million dollars. On January 20, the latest version of DeepSeek, called R1, was released.
