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Australia has prohibited the use of DeepSeek on all government devices and systems due to security concerns related to the Chinese AI startup.

In January, DeepSeek gained attention globally with a chatbot that rivaled US competitors in performance while claiming lower training costs.

This move impacted worldwide stock markets, notably in Australia where AI-related stocks like chipmaker Brainchip saw significant declines.

The Australian government clarified that the ban was driven by the "unacceptable risk" to national security rather than DeepSeek's Chinese origin.

The government directive mandates the prevention of DeepSeek products, applications, and web services on all government systems and devices, affecting various sectors like the Australian Electoral Commission and Bureau of Meteorology.

It remains unclear whether the ban extends to public sector computers in other economic areas, like schools, but excludes private citizens' devices.

According to Kieren McCarthy of Oxford Information Labs, such security concerns are becoming the norm in governmental responses to new technologies, adding a political layer to tech regulation.

Western countries have a history of wariness towards Chinese tech companies like Huawei and TikTok, citing national security issues.

Although initially praised as a wake-up call by President Donald Trump, doubts regarding DeepSeek have arisen, prompting scrutiny from various countries and organizations on data privacy and security.

Notably, the US Navy reportedly banned its members from using DeepSeek, awaiting further clarification on this restriction.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, as with DeepSeek, analyze input data to enhance their functionality, raising concerns among experts about the data storage and potential analysis by the developers, especially in sensitive fields.

DeepSeek has faced allegations of unfair use of US technology.