The Department of Homeland Security ordered civilian federal agencies to remove Chinese firm DeepSeek’s AI tools and any systems built with its models, escalating Washington’s scrutiny of China-linked technology. The directive—effective since late July and excluding the Defense Department—cites unspecified security concerns and follows broader White House criticism of Chinese AI companies. The move targets a fast-rising, open-source model that has gained U.S. traction for its low cost, drawing developers and vendors such as Snowflake, Vercel and OpenRouter. U.S. AI players including Anthropic and OpenAI have accused Chinese rivals of copying their models, sharpening competitive and policy fault lines as both countries race to commercialize advanced AI. The ban could force federal contractors to reassess supply chains and heightens uncertainty around open-source adoption even as DeepSeek’s newest release wins developer praise for code-generation performance.
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