The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered all artificial intelligence technology from Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most federal government systems, according to a DHS notice cited by the BBC. The ban applies to civilian agencies and to any technology built with the aid of DeepSeek’s models. The BBC reported that the order took effect at the end of July and was made public on Monday.
Who is covered—and who isn’t
The order is specific to civilian agencies, including the Departments of the Treasury, State, and Justice, the BBC reported. Agencies within the Department of Defense are excluded.
No detailed rationale in the notice
The BBC said the DHS notice did not detail the specific security concerns. The outlet reported that the White House has criticized Chinese AI firms this year. In an internal memo earlier this year, White House tech lead Michael Kratsios wrote that “malicious exploitation” of American AI firms had been occurring, mainly by rival firms in China, according to the BBC.
Copying allegations from US AI firms
Anthropic and OpenAI have claimed their AI models were essentially copied by some Chinese AI firms, including DeepSeek, the BBC reported. The BBC also noted both companies are poised to pursue public listings in the coming months.
Why DeepSeek spread so fast
The BBC described DeepSeek as a powerful open-source model—free to access and less expensive to use—that has gained rapid popularity since its 2025 release. The outlet reported that demand has at times overwhelmed company servers; DeepSeek’s free chatbot ranks among top downloads in Apple’s App Store; and US tech companies including Snowflake, Vercel, and OpenRouter incorporate DeepSeek in their offerings.
According to the BBC, DeepSeek said last year it spent about $6 million to train its debut model, while costs associated with OpenAI’s GPT-4 were roughly $100 million. The BBC reported that those disclosures sent tech stocks tumbling.
The BBC said the most recent version of DeepSeek was released last week, and users online have praised it, saying it beats advanced OpenAI tools on common coding tasks.
Context and what’s next
The BBC reported that the ban follows criticism of Chinese AI from President Donald Trump’s administration and from American firms. The DHS, DeepSeek, and the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, were contacted for comment, according to the BBC.
