Washington: The US Navy has instructed its personnel not to use AI technology from China's DeepSeek due to "security and ethical concerns."
According to Anadolu Agency, an email sent to Navy members on Friday warned that DeepSeek's AI should not be used "in any capacity" because of "potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model's origin and usage," as reported by CNBC. A US Navy spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the email, stating it aligns with the policy on generative AI set by the Department of the Navy's Chief Information Officer.
The warning underscored that DeepSeek's AI should not be employed for "any work-related tasks or personal use." This directive was circulated to all personnel on the Operational Navy distribution list, highlighting its significance.
This decision comes in the wake of DeepSeek's release of its R1 AI model, a competitor to OpenAI's technology. The open-source model has rapidly gained popularity, even surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT in the Apple App Store. Despite its limited resources, DeepSeek's model was developed using only 2,000 older chips and a budget of under $6 million, compared to OpenAI's reported expenditure of over $100 million on its advanced ChatGPT model, the o1.
The emergence of DeepSeek's AI has led to market fluctuations, with shares of AI chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom falling by 17%, erasing $800 billion in market value. Venture capitalist David Sacks commented on X that DeepSeek's R1 "shows that the AI race will be very competitive," urging vigilance from the US.
Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, described DeepSeek's R1 as "earth-shattering" and comparable to the best American models, referring to the US-China AI race as an 'AI war.' In response, Trump's administration recently announced a joint venture, Stargate, between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to invest billions in AI infrastructure in the US. Trump also remarked that DeepSeek has been 'a wake-up call' for Silicon Valley, encouraging American firms to focus on competition.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed on X that DeepSeek is an 'impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price,' and added, 'We will obviously deliver much better models and also it's legit invigorating to have a new competitor.'