Buckeye Reporter

Lawmakers have expressed concerns to the U.S. Commerce Secretary regarding the security risks posed by Chinese artificial intelligence models, specifically highlighting DeepSeek’s R1 model. In a letter, they wrote, “DeepSeek’s R1’s model release in late January demonstrated the aptitude of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national AI talent and the progress their home-grown models have made relative to leading U.S. products.”

They continued, “The Trump Administration has rightly emphasized winning the AI competition against the PRC, and the development of AI use case applications for businesses and consumers is an important facet of that competition. Ensuring that such applications are secure and not prone to leaking secure information and malign exploitation is paramount.”

The letter noted concerns about content safety: “Concerningly, R1 has been found to produce potentially harmful content at higher rates than peer American models. It is probable that R1 did not undergo comprehensive red-teaming and safety tests to prevent the generation of harmful content prior to release,” added the policymakers.

Lawmakers also pointed out strategic differences between the U.S. and China: “Given their restricted access to the most advanced compute resources, the PRC has seemingly adopted a strategy of imbedding open-source AI models into applications and services as a way to compete with the U.S. for global AI leadership,” they wrote.

Referring to past actions against Chinese technology firms, lawmakers said, “The U.S. government has previously recognized the threats posed by the wide-spread adoption of certain PRC technologies. For example, Congress funded a multi-billion program to remove Huawei telecommunications hardware from American networks after it was determined that such hardware could contain backdoors for PRC espionage. In order to prevent a similar situation, we ask that you identify and evaluate any potential backdoors or vulnerabilities posed by Chinese open-source models like DeepSeek’s R1,” wrote the lawmakers.

Officials believe DeepSeek poses significant national security risks due to its reported support for China’s military and intelligence operations.

This letter follows earlier efforts by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) aimed at protecting sensitive data from foreign exploitation. Husted, along with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), introduced bipartisan legislation designed to prohibit DeepSeek—citing its connections with China’s Communist Party—from being used on federal government devices or networks.

Several states in the U.S., as well as allied countries, have already taken steps to block DeepSeek on government devices due to these ongoing security concerns.