"A senior US official confirmed that China's artificial intelligence application DeepSeek has been supporting China's military and intelligence activities and may continue to do so.
On June 24, a spokesperson for the US State Department told Voice of America that DeepSeek voluntarily supports the Chinese regime's military and espionage activities, that this is not limited to merely providing access to AI models, and confirmed that there is a series of evidence about this, but did not provide information about imposing penalties or restrictions on the aforementioned Chinese company.
The official elaborated on the evidence, pointing out that Chinese media have praised DeepSeek's contributions to numerous activities of Chinese military units; that DeepSeek has appeared more than 150 times in procurement lists of the Chinese army and defense agencies; that DeepSeek has collaborated with research institutions affiliated with the Chinese army and defense departments in AI research; and that DeepSeek company's researchers are affiliated with Chinese research institutions and universities that the US government has placed on its sanctions list.
Like other Chinese products that are capturing international markets at low prices through massive subsidies from the Chinese regime, DeepSeek was also distributed for free when launched to market, causing a sensation in the AI field. At the same time, DeepSeek's data security issues and actions such as covering up ethnic genocide in East Turkistan continue to be points of consistent attention."
This appears to be reporting on US government concerns about DeepSeek's potential military and intelligence connections, as well as broader issues related to Chinese AI development and human rights concerns.