Australia has banned the use of the Chinese-developed artificial intelligence application, DeepSeek, on all government devices due to serious security concerns.

The directive, released by the Department of Home Affairs, requires the elimination of DeepSeek products, applications, and web services from all Australian government systems and mobile devices by February 5, 2025. This move aligns Australia with nations like Italy, which recently restricted DeepSeek over data protection issues.

Security experts have detected connections between DeepSeek and China Mobile, a government-owned telecommunications firm, raising additional worries regarding data privacy and national security.

In light of these developments, Australian officials have urged citizens to be cautious when utilizing DeepSeek, stressing the significance of data security and privacy.