OpenAI calls on US government to ban the use of DeepSeek in critical areas.
OpenAI calls on US government to ban DeepSeek, calling it ‘state-subsidized’ and ‘state-controlled’
Graham Barlow
14 March 2025
The race is on to become the global AI leader by 2030
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
OpenAI has proposed banning DeepSeek in critical areas Calls DeepSeek "state-subsidized" and "state-controlled" OpenAI would like to see the removal of "overly burdensome state laws"
OpenAI has sent a proposal to the Office of Science and Technology Policy that calls on the US government to ban the use of DeepSeek in governments, military, and intelligence services. Mentioning the Chinese AI by name, the proposal calls DeepSeek “state-subsidized” and “state-controlled”.
The letter, available on its website and signed by Chris Lehane, the Vice President of, Global Affairs at OpenAI, also proposes “banning the use of PRC-produced equipment (e.g., Huawei Ascend chips) and models that violate user privacy and create security risks such as the risk of IP theft” among what it called Tier 1 countries.
The letter says “As America’s world-leading AI sector approaches artificial general intelligence (AGI), with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) determined to overtake us by 2030, the Trump Administration’s new AI Action Plan can ensure that American-led AI built on democratic principles continues to prevail over CCP-built autocratic, authoritarian AI.”
You may like
OpenAI says DeepSeek used its models illegally, and it has evidence to prove it, new report claims
DeepSeek AI app should be banned from US government devices, lawmakers say
Identity crisis DeepSeek recently caused a shockwave in the AI industry by providing similar results to the ChatGPT o1 reasoning model with its DeepSeek-R1 model, but at a much lower price for developers and free for web browser use. Stock prices for companies heavily invested in AI saw an immediate drop, although the market has since returned to previous levels.
Many have questioned whether DeekSeek's rapid progress was truly down to an innovative new training methodology or whether it had “distilled” some training data from OpenAI against its terms and conditions. In fact, as we noticed on TechRadar, DeepSeek would sometimes mistake itself for ChatGPT when asked who it was.
(Image credit: Adobe Stock) The race for AGI The letter from OpenAI states: “As with Huawei, there is significant risk in building on top of DeepSeek models in critical infrastructure and other high-risk use cases given the potential that DeepSeek could be compelled by the CCP to manipulate its models to cause harm.”
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. There is no direct evidence to suggest that DeepSeek, which is owned and controlled by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, is controlled by the Chinese government, however it's been noted that you cannot get the DeepSeek-R1 chatbot to answer questions about political topics sensitive to the PRC like the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. OpenAI clearly sees humanity as being on the doorstep to artificial general intelligence (AGI), which describes systems that possess human-like general intelligence. AGI is something that OpenAI has been working towards since its creation as a company, and the proposal also attacks the “overly burdensome state laws” that are holding it back. “As our CEO Sam Altman has written, we are at the doorstep of the next leap in prosperity: the Intelligence Age. But we must ensure that people have freedom of intelligence, by which we mean the freedom to access and benefit from AGI, protected from both autocratic powers that would take people’s freedoms away, and layers of laws and bureaucracy that would prevent our realizing them.” You may also like
OpenAI wants to help your business build its next generation of AI agents ChatGPT-4.5 is here (for most users), but I think OpenAI’s model selection is now a complete mess OpenAI confirms 400 million weekly ChatGPT users - here's 5 great ways to use the world’s most popular AI chatbot
See more Computing News
Graham Barlow
Social Links Navigation Senior Editor, AI
Graham is the Senior Editor for AI at TechRadar. With over 25 years of experience in both online and print journalism, Graham has worked for various market-leading tech brands including Computeractive, PC Pro, iMore, MacFormat, Mac|Life, Maximum PC, and more. He specializes in reporting on everything to do with AI and has appeared on BBC TV shows like BBC One Breakfast and on Radio 4 commenting on the latest trends in tech. Graham has an honors degree in Computer Science and spends his spare time podcasting and blogging.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
OpenAI says DeepSeek used its models illegally, and it has evidence to prove it, new report claims
DeepSeek AI app should be banned from US government devices, lawmakers say
OpenAI's Sam Altman calls DeepSeek 'impressive' but promises to launch 'much better models' soon
What is DeepSeek: China’s AI has got people talking
US Navy bans use of DeepSeek “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns"
DeepSeek is under fire – is there anywhere left to hide for the Chinese chatbot?
Latest in Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI calls on US government to ban DeepSeek, calling it ‘state-subsidized’ and ‘state-controlled’
4 ways ChatGPT Tasks can help you take control of your life – trust me it's my favorite AI tool of 2025 so far
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's upcoming Flash 2.0 built-in image upgrade
I cloned my voice in seconds using a free AI app, and we really need to talk about speech synthesis
Now everybody gets Gems as part of Google Gemini for free, you can start making your own custom Gemini chatbots
Gemini Deep Research just got even smarter and it’s now free for everyone to try - here's why you should give it a go
Latest in News
OpenAI calls on US government to ban DeepSeek, calling it ‘state-subsidized’ and ‘state-controlled’
Complexity of IT systems could be increasing security risks for businesses
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 enters development as team promises to support Space Marine 2 'with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years'
CEOs think they might lose their jobs if they can't deliver on AI
From Ace of Spades to Them Bones, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4's soundtrack is already looking excellent
AMD describes its recent RDNA 4 GPU launch as 'unprecedented' and promises restocking the Radeon RX 9070 XT as 'priority number one'
More about artificial intelligence
4 ways ChatGPT Tasks can help you take control of your life – trust me it's my favorite AI tool of 2025 so far
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's upcoming Flash 2.0 built-in image upgrade
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 enters development as team promises to support Space Marine 2 'with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years'
See more latest
Most Popular
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 enters development as team promises to support Space Marine 2 'with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years'
Well, AMD's Radeon RX 9070 series launch isn't going as smoothly as we thought - and it's because retailers have inflated prices
Severance season 2 episode 9 recap: 7 new theories I have about 'The After Hours', and answers about Mr Bailiff, devour feculence, Svalbard, and more
AMD describes its recent RDNA 4 GPU launch as 'unprecedented' and promises restocking the Radeon RX 9070 XT as 'priority number one'
Wix teams up with Printful for in-house print-on-demand tools
I’ve tried the new Mercedes-Benz Superscreen – and its Google Gemini-powered smarts push EV infotainment to the next level
Complexity of IT systems could be increasing security risks for businesses
CEOs think they might lose their jobs if they can't deliver on AI
From Ace of Spades to Them Bones, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4's soundtrack is already looking excellent
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's upcoming Flash 2.0 built-in image upgrade
LATEST ARTICLES
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 enters development as team promises to support Space Marine 2 'with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years'
Well, AMD's Radeon RX 9070 series launch isn't going as smoothly as we thought - and it's because retailers have inflated prices
Severance season 2 episode 9 recap: 7 new theories I have about 'The After Hours', and answers about Mr Bailiff, devour feculence, Svalbard, and more
AMD describes its recent RDNA 4 GPU launch as "unprecedented" and promises restocking as "priority number one"
Sprint! The best cheap Garmin for runners is back down to its lowest-ever price
TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future's experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Advertise with us
Web notifications
Accessibility Statement
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,