US Congressional offices are being warned not to use DeepSeek, an upstart Chinese chatbot that is roiling the American AI market, Report informs via Axios.
The US Congress has struggled to navigate the security and administrative challenges posed by the rapid advancement of AI technology.
"At this time, DeepSeek is under review by the CAO and is currently unauthorized for official House use," the House's Chief Administrative Officer said in a notice to congressional offices obtained by Axios.
The notice warned that "threat actors are already exploiting DeepSeek to deliver malicious software and infect devices."
"To mitigate these risks, the House has taken security measures to restrict DeepSeek's functionality on all House-issued devices," it continued.
Staffers are prohibited from installing DeepSeek on any official phones, computers and tablets, the notice said.
This is far from the first time the CAO has restricted staffers' use of an AI product, though other targeted companies have been based in the US.
In 2023 the office set limits on the use of ChatGPT, telling offices they can only use the paid version of the OpenAI chatbot for certain tasks.
The CAO also told staffers last April that they could not use Microsoft Copilot, though the company stated that it was working on a suite of government-oriented tools it hoped would be allowed.