Pentagon workers used DeepSeek’s chatbot for at least two days before block: Source
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The move to block access to Deepseek came after defense officials raised concerns that Pentagon workers were using the tool.
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WASHINGTON – US Defence Department employees connected their work computers to Chinese servers to access DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence chatbot for at least two days before the Pentagon moved to shut off access, according to a defence official familiar with the matter.
The Defence Information Systems Agency, which is responsible for the Pentagon’s IT networks, moved to block access to the Chinese start-up’s website late on Jan 28, the official and another person familiar with the matter said.
Both asked not to be named because the information is not public.
The move came after defence officials raised concerns that Pentagon workers were using the tool, the person said.
DeepSeek’s privacy policy states that it stores user data on servers in China and that it governs that information under Chinese law.
On Jan 29, some Pentagon work screens showed a sign saying “Website Blocked”, citing operational reasons, but others could still access DeepSeek, according to the official and correspondence seen by Bloomberg News.
A spokesperson for the Defence Information Systems Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
All about DeepSeek and its lower-cost AI model: Quick take
DeepSeek and the AI model that it says it developed for less than US$6 million (S$8.1 million) upended markets around the world earlier this week,
Tech executives including Mr Marc Andreessen praised DeepSeek, and the model soared to the top of the Apple Store downloads.
At the same time, security concerns mounted over the chatbot, including the potential misuse of users’ information being stored at Chinese data centres.
The Pentagon’s IT experts are still determining the extent to which employees directly used DeepSeek’s system through a web browser, the official said.
US military personnel started downloading an earlier release of DeepSeek code on their workstations in the autumn of 2024, according to the person familiar with the matter. At the time, the downloads did not raise concern with Defence Department security teams as the connection to China was not clear to them, the person added.
The explosion of interest in the latest DeepSeek release has triggered efforts in some of the military services to find and remove code from China-origin chatbots on employees’ individual machines, according to the person.
However, thousands of Defence Department personnel are using DeepSeek through Ask Sage, an authorised software platform that does not directly connect them to Chinese servers, according to Mr Nicolas Chaillan, founder and chief executive of the platform.
Military services are addressing DeepSeek use by employees in different ways. The US Navy on Jan 31 prohibited any usage of DeepSeek due to potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage, according to CNBC.
Asked about the report, navy spokeswoman Lauren Chatmas said the navy already has guidance against using open-source AI systems for official work. Recent internal navy correspondence mentioned DeepSeek in connection with that guidance, she added.
The Department of the Air Force has no specific guidance on DeepSeek but already prohibits the use of sensitive public information in commercial generative AI systems without proper approvals, according to Ms Laura McAndrews, an Air Force spokeswoman.
The US Army issued guidance in June 2024 warning of “unique challenges in terms of data privacy, security and control over the generated content”, according to a public memo, which urged individual commands to develop appropriate governance processes while discouraging banning generative AI tools outright.
Some service members are now discussing the possibility of issuing new policies to explicitly ban Chinese generative AI models, according to correspondence reviewed by Bloomberg News. BLOOMBERG
