House Select Committee Says DeepSeek Is Threat to US Security

A House select committee recommended Wednesday (April 16) that the government address risk from Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) models after finding that DeepSeek presents a threat to U.S. security.

The House Select Committee on China recommended that the government expand export controls, improve the enforcement of export controls, and “prevent and prepare for strategic surprise related to advanced AI.”

It said this in an executive summary of a report released Wednesday, “DeepSeek Unmasked: Exposing the CCP’s Latest Tool For Spying, Stealing and Subverting U.S. Export Control Restrictions.”

“This report makes it clear: DeepSeek isn’t just another AI app — it’s a weapon in the Chinese Communist Party’s arsenal, designed to spy on Americans,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., the chairman of the committee, said in a Wednesday press release.

Moolenaar also said in the release that the committee sent a formal letter to Nvidia on Wednesday demanding answers about how the company’s chips ended up powering DeepSeek’s AI models.

In a statement posted on X, Nvidia said that it follows the government’s instructions on what it can sell and where “to the letter.”

“The technology industry supports America when it exports to well-known companies worldwide — if the government felt otherwise, it would instruct us,” the statement said. “Our reported Singapore revenue indicates the billing address, often for subsidiaries of our U.S. customers. The associated products are shipped to other locations, including the United States and Taiwan, not to China.”

The committee’s investigation found that DeepSeek funnels Americans’ data to China through back-end infrastructure connected to a Chinese military company and manipulates the results it presents through its AI model to align with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, according to the executive summary.

The investigation also found that it is “highly likely” that DeepSeek used unlawful techniques and stole from American AI models when creating its own model and “appears to be” powered by advanced chips from Nvidia that are restricted from export to China, per the summary.

Citing research by Graphika, the report also said DeepSeek’s AI model was “amplified and celebrated” by social media accounts affiliated with China when it was released.