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Deepseek created a storm in the AI industry, outperforming OpenAI’s ChatGPT and becoming the number one downloaded app on the App Store. However, it also sparked concerns of security risks.
Deepseek outperformed OpenAI after launch and caused stocks to crash by $1 trillion. (Reuters)
Last week, Texas became the first US state to issue a ban on Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek for government-issued devices, after the AI platform wreaked havoc in the American tech industry as it quickly gained popularity among American users in recent weeks.
The governor also prohibited popular Chinese-owned social media apps Xiaohongshu, or what some are calling RedNote, and Lemon8 from all state-issued devices. “Texas will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate our state’s critical infrastructure through data-harvesting AI and social media apps,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas will continue to protect and defend our state from hostile foreign actors.”
Abbott also ordered state agencies in Texas to ban the Chinese government-based AI and social media applications from all state-issued devices for protection against “malicious espionage operations by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Deepseek took the AI market by storm as it outperformed US OpenAI at a significantly lower cost, caused tech stocks to dip by $1 trillion. However, the chatbot has raised security concerns – particularly related to storage and dissemination of personal data of users – not dissimilar to those that led to TikTok’s ban.
Others have already started blocking the AI chatbot due to security concerns, including the US Navy and NASA, according to the New York Post. The Navy cited “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage”.
Elon Musk’s Footprint In Texas
Texas is also the state where Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has moved the headquarters of two of his companies – X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX. He moved the two companies there from California last year, citing a new gender-identity law there as the “last straw.”
Prior to this, Musk had changed his own residence in 2021 from California to Texas, where there is no state income tax on individuals. Musk was upset over a California law that forbade school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents when a child changes gender identity or sexual orientation.
Musk said SpaceX’s main office would move to an existing facility in Boca Chica, Texas, while X would move to Austin. While Texas does not collect personal income tax while California has some of the highest state tax rates in the United States.
The Tesla CEO has remained historically sceptical of artificial intelligence and was left unimpressed with the rise of Deepseek. Recently, Musk questioned the claims that Deepseek needed only 2,000 specialised chips from NVidia to train its V3 model, as compared to 16,000 required to train leading models like ChatGPT.
In one of the posts, Musk responded to a clip of Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, who said that DeepSeek has around 50,000 NVIDIA H100s that they cannot talk about due to US export controls. He also dubbed the Chinese AI platform “DeeperSeeker”.
Will Deepseek Be Banned In India?
DeepSeek’s AI Assistant, which is powered by DeepSeek-V3, has now overtaken the rival tool ChatGPT and become the top-rated free application available on the Apple App Store in the United States, eliciting a range of responses from industry leaders.
Australia on Tuesday banned DeepSeek from all government devices over concerns that the Chinese artificial intelligence startup poses security risks. It 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. Data protection authorities in Belgium, France and Ireland are all investigating the way DeepSeek handles the personal information of its citizens, according to the Independent. South Korea and India have also signalled that action may be taken against DeepSeek due to potential privacy and security infringements.
- Location :
Austin, Texas, USA
