Australia reportedly prohibited the use of DeepSeek AI across all government systems, following a risk assessment which found the company’s technology posed a risk to national security.

Home affairs minister Tony Burke announced the ban, stating all DeepSeek products, applications and services would be immediately removed from government networks, Bloomberg reported.

“AI holds immense potential, but we will not hesitate to act when security threats are identified,” Burke said. He added that the decision was based on the risk assessment rather than the company’s Chinese origins, stating that Australia’s approach remained “country-agnostic.”

Australia has however taken a hardline on Chinese companies in the past. In 2018, it excluded Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from the country’s 5G infrastructure, flagging national security issues.

While the DeepSeek ban is restricted to government devices, Burke advised Australian citizens to remain cautious about their digital presence and data privacy.

DeepSeek made waves in the industry last month after gaining recognition for a mobile app powered by its advanced reasoning AI chatbot, taking top spot for downloads on Apple’s US App Store.

Since then, DeepSeek’s AI model has attracted global scrutiny over data security, with the US government launching a probe into the technology to investigate concerns over security and data sovereignty.

Australia follows Italy and Taiwan in imposing a block on the service while Ireland’s Data Protection Commission requested further details on its operations. Numerous private companies have also pre-emptively restricted access to the AI platform, according to Bloomberg.