Republican Senator Josh Hawley wants to crack down on Americans who use DeepSeek, the Chinese AI that is shaking up the world of artificial intelligence. The politician has just presented the Decoupling America’s Artificial Capabilities from China Act, a bill aimed at “protecting the development of American artificial intelligence against China”.
As the senator explains on his official website, “every dollar and every gigabyte of data injected into Chinese AI will end up being used against the United States”. According to him, the American government cannot afford to let “its greatest adversary gain autonomy”.
20 years in prison and a fine of one million dollars
With this in mind, the Republican wants to criminalize the use of DeepSeek. The bill provides for severe penalties for Americans who download the chatbot onto one of their devices. Violators could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. These penalties are provided for in Section 1760 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA). This legislation aims to strengthen U.S. national security by controlling exports of sensitive technologies, such as AI.
In the bill, Josh Hawley points to the collection of personal data of DeepSeek users. The Chinese start-up makes no secret of the fact that it vacuums up all the information provided by its users, under the legislation in force in China. As Benoit Grunemwald, cybersecurity expert at ESET France, explains to us, “DeepSeek’s privacy policy reveals that user data is stored on servers in China”. This data can "include conversation history, downloaded files, and other sensitive information."
That's why several countries have preferred to take precautions. Australia, for example, has decided to ban the use of DeepSeek on its government devices. In addition, Chinese AI is in the crosshairs of the Italian data protection authority. To test DeepSeek without taking any risks, we recommend installing it locally on a computer or using a third-party service, such as Perplexity or Microsoft Azure.
Josh Hawley's bill doesn't stop there. Still with the aim of ensuring US dominance over China in AI, the senator wants to ban trade in AI technologies with China, prohibit joint research between American and Chinese companies, and ban all American investments in Chinese AI. At this stage, there is no indication that the senator's proposal will be adopted. The senator must obtain approval from both the House and Senate before submitting it to the president of the United States, who is free to veto it.
Source: Hawley
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