What Happened?
The U.S. Congress’s China Communist Party Task Force has pointed out that the Chinese AI company DeepSeek is suspected of illegal activities, including the clandestine transmission of U.S. user data to . The U.S. government is considering sanctions against DeepSeek to restrict its procurement of U.S. technology.
The Task Force also noted that DeepSeek may be using NVIDIA chips, which are subject to U.S. export restrictions, for model training. NVIDIA’s sales in Asia are under investigation, particularly to determine whether the company has violated regulations by supplying critical hardware to DeepSeek.
In addition to the United States, DeepSeek is also facing strict regulatory scrutiny globally; for instance, France, South Korea, and Ireland have begun investigating DeepSeek’s data collection practices.
U.S. Government Considers Sanctions Against DeepSeek
According to a report by The New York Times, the Trump administration is considering a series of sanctions against the Chinese AI company DeepSeek to block its procurement of U.S. technology.
DeepSeek’s DeepSeek-V3 chatbot, launched earlier this year, has caused a stir in the industry, as the model was trained for only $6 million, significantly less than the “hundreds of millions” spent by OpenAI. This has raised concerns within the U.S. government regarding the speed of China’s development in the AI sector.
Foreign media pointed out that a report released by the U.S. Congress’s China Communist Party Task Force on April 16, 2023, accused DeepSeek of engaging in illegal activities. For instance, DeepSeek secretly transmitted U.S. user data to the Chinese Communist Party without disclosure, and during the training of its AI model, it may have used data illegally obtained from U.S. AI models.
Is Nvidia Under Investigation?
The report further indicated that DeepSeek may have used approximately 60,000 NVIDIA chips to train its AI model; however, 20,000 of these chips are categorized under U.S. government export controls. This means that advanced U.S. technology could potentially have entered the hands of Chinese developers through unauthorized channels.
As a result, the Task Force is investigating NVIDIA’s sales situation in Asia, particularly whether the company supplied critical hardware to DeepSeek in violation of U.S. export regulations. Foreign media noted that in February of this year, authorities in Singapore arrested three suspects accused of illegally exporting NVIDIA chips, with local media reporting that their export activities were intended for DeepSeek.
Task Force member ### John Moolenaar stated in a press release that U.S. innovative technology should not empower hostile forces (referring to ).
A spokesperson for NVIDIA stated that the company strictly adheres to U.S. government directives and operates fully in accordance with government regulations regarding which products can be bought and sold.
In fact, not only in the U.S., but DeepSeek also faces rigorous regulatory scrutiny in other countries. For instance, in January of this year, Italy’s data protection authority requested that DeepSeek cease providing chatbot services in the country due to the company’s failure to comply with European data protection standards. Furthermore, France, South Korea, and Ireland have also indicated that they will investigate the company’s data collection practices.
Sources: Decrypt, Reuters