Despite Data Leakage Problems, Pentagon Continues to Use DeepSeek Because It’s So Much Better Than American AI

Pentagon staff have been downloading an early version the Chinese generative artificial intelligence model DeepSeek onto their workstations since the fall of 2024, according to Bloomberg. The Pentagon’s IT experts only moved to partially block the app’s usage after its recent surge in popularity.

Earlier this month, the Chinese startup unveiled its latest open-source AI model, R1, which its creators claim has outperformed leading products from US developers, including OpenAI’s flagship o1, in some cases. The model’s accessibility – allowing anyone to download and run it on their own servers for free – has stirred the open-source community and triggered a sell-off of US tech stocks.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which manages the Pentagon’s IT networks, moved to block access to the DeepSeek website after many defense employees had already used the latest AI chatbot for at least two days, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed US defense officials.

DISA experts are now assessing the extent of employees’ direct use of DeepSeek through web browsers. When accessed via the company’s website or its popular apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play, DeepSeek’s privacy policy indicated that user data is stored on servers in China and governed under Chinese law.

Despite the restrictions, thousands of Pentagon employees continue to use the Chinese-trained AI through the authorized web platform Ask Sage, which provides access to multiple models, including DeepSeek, hosted on its own US-based servers.

Some US military personnel also downloaded an earlier version of DeepSeek onto their workstations as early as the fall of 2024, according to Bloomberg sources. At the time, the connection to China was allegedly “not evident” to Defense Department security teams, and the downloads did not raise immediate concerns.

Because DeepSeek is open source, the Americans can copy the models and pretend they are their own, but copies can never keep up with the original.

DeepSeek is simply one of many Chinese models to come. They are advancing at rapid speed.

Furthermore, Nvidia exercises strong control over the American AI market, and they are going to continue to push for bloated AI that relies on their overpriced GPUs.

DeepSeek exposed internal database containing chat histories and sensitive data

Meanwhile, Chinese AI company DeepSeek announced that it has fixed an exposed back-end database that was spilling sensitive information, including user chat histories and API keys, to the open internet. The DeepSeek database was not protected with a password, allowing anyone on the internet to access more than a million unencrypted logs inside.

Security researchers at cloud giant Wiz said they found the exposed database and alerted DeepSeek, which soon after took the database offline. According to Wired, the Wiz researchers said the exposed chat logs were in Chinese but easily translated. It’s not yet known if anyone else, other than Wiz, found the database before it was secured, nor is it known for how long the database was exposed. DeepSeek did not respond to a request for comment.

Misconfigured databases are often caused by human error, rather than due to malicious intent. DeepSeek has seen viral popularity since its public launch in December.

This incident has raised serious questions about the online security of personal data, especially in the context of increasing pressure on citizens to accept various digital documents containing highly sensitive private information (identity, banking, health, etc).

 

yogaesoteric
February 3, 2025

 

Also available in: Română

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More