- A special committee within the United States Congress concluded that Depseek AI represents a deep threat to the national security of the United States.
- The report reveals problems of privacy and data safety, the use of monitoring tools and even links with the Chinese army, among others.
- Deepseek AI has been under fire since its launch in January, with many countries issuing research or prohibitions for privacy reasons
Although it appears as another chatbot of AI, Depseek represents a deep threat to the national security of the United States. This is the verdict of the last report of the Congress of the United States on the China tool, which has sent shock waves through the world of AI since its launch last January.
Crucially, the special committee within the United States Congress found privacy and security problems with how Chatbot administered the data of Americans, the use of monitoring tools in their system, the spread of Chinese propaganda and even links with the Chinese army, among others.
The findings occur as a Speeek is under fire in many countries, including the US, which have initiated investigations or prohibited prohibitions on Chinese software in privacy and security.
The risk of Americans data
“Deepseek represents a deep threat to the security of our nation,” says the report of the United States Congress. “The closest inspection reveals that the application diverts the data of the Popular Republic of China (RPC), creates security vulnerabilities for its users and depends on a model that censures and manipulates the information in accordance with the Chinese law.”
According to the company’s privacy policy, Depseek collects a large amount of user data “, including chat history, the details of the device and even the way a person types,” says experts.
It is worth noting that invasive data collection practices are not a prerogative of the Chinese chatbot. For example, the research carried out by one of the best VPN suppliers, Surfshark, discovered that Google Gemini further collects their personal data.
However, the problem here for the data of the Americans is that these details are channeled to the People’s Republic of China (RPC) through an insecure infrastructure related to a Chinese telecommunications company that is believed to have links with the Chinese army: China Mobile.
In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited China Mobile from operating in the United States. The company was officially designated a national security threat three years later.
The report confirms what Feroot Security experts also discovered in February: links encoded on the Deepseek web session page that connect it directly to China Mobile.
“While the scope of data transmission is not confirmed, Deepseek’s integration with China’s mobile infrastructure raises serious concerns about possible foreign access to private information from Americans,” says the report.
The investigations also found that Depseek integrates monitoring tools for Chinese technological giants that the United States government previously marked security concerns, including the Matrix company of Tiktok, Bytedance, Baidu and Tencent.
“Together, these companies constitute a well -documented device for surveillance, censorship and exploitation of data, which deeply reinforces,” experts wrote.
Worse, researchers have discovered that Depseek recently to protect the information it collects.
“For these reasons, it is evident that the website and the Deepseek application act as a direct channel for the collection of foreign intelligence in the private data of Americans.”
Accusations have also been raised about the spread of Chinese propaganda, censorship, unauthorized use of the US AI models and the illegal use of restricted NVIDIA chips.
The Committee now recommends expanding export controls and addressing the risks of Chinese AI models, while preparing to strategic surprise related to advanced AI.
