Australia has banned DeepSeek from all government devices as it seeks to block “an unacceptable level of security risk” presented by the Chinese artificial intelligence program, according to an official order Tuesday.

“After considering threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level of security risk to the Australian Government,” Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster said in the directive.

As of Wednesday all non-corporate Commonwealth entities must “identify and remove all existing instances of DeepSeek products, applications and web services on all Australian Government systems and mobile devices,” she added.

The directive also required that access, use or installation of DeepSeek be prevented across government systems and mobile devices.

The action is the latest by governments from around the world which have been turning a spotlight on the services of the Chinese startup.

DeepSeek raised alarms last month when it claimed its new R1 chatbot matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the cost.

Countries now including South Korea, Ireland, France, Australia and Italy have expressed concern about DeepSeek’s data practices, including how it handles personal data and what information is used to train DeepSeek’s AI system.

AFP