New bill could see DeepSeek and Chinese AI models banned in government departments

• A new bill is coming in which might see AI models from 'adversarial nations' banned
• Models such as DeepSeek will be prohibited
• Many private firms have already banned the model

Artificial intelligence models built in China, Iran, Russia, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea could soon be banned from use in government agencies thanks to the newly introduced ‘No Adversarial AI Act’.

Lawmakers introduced this bill in both the House and Senate by Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar, a Republican and Chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a ranking member on the committee, CyberNews reports.

“We are in a new Cold War—and AI is the strategic technology at the center. The CCP doesn’t innovate—it steals, scales, and subverts," argues Moolenaar.

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DeepSeek rivals

The Chinese DeepSeek model rose to popularity quickly as a rival to existing western AI models - costing a fraction of the cost to make, and achieving impressively similar results.

However, DeepSeek, as with all AI models, comes with privacy concerns, and lawmakers argue that this puts data at risk, especially if those users enter information relevant to work within government organizations.

“From IP theft and chip smuggling to embedding AI in surveillance and military platforms, the Chinese Communist Party is racing to weaponize this technology. We must draw a clear line: US government systems cannot be powered by tools built to serve authoritarian interests,” said Moolenaar.

If this new bill passes, all government agencies will join the list of private companies and government departments which have also banned DeepSeek, such as Microsoft, the US Department of Commerce, and the US Navy.

The new bill will require the US Federal Acquisition Security Council to create and maintain a publicly available list of AI models developed in the listed “adversarial nations” - and government agencies would not be able to use or purchase any of these models without an exemption from the US Congress - most likely in the cases of research or testing.

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