NASA becomes latest federal agency to block China’s DeepSeek

NASA is the latest federal agency to ban use of China’s DeepSeek AI technology by employees and block access to the platform from its systems, CNBC has learned.

In a memo on Friday to all NASA personnel from the agency’s chief artificial intelligence officer, employees were informed that DeepSeek’s servers “operate outside of the United States, raising national security and privacy concerns.”

“DeepSeek and its products and services are not authorized for use with NASA’s data and information or on government-issued devices and networks,” the memo said.

NASA didn’t immediately provide a comment.

DeepSeek’s free-to-download AI assistant is now available in the U.S., rivaling products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google Gemini. DeepSeek’s app rocketed to the top of Apple’s App Store at the start of the week, unseating OpenAI’s ChatGPT from the lead spot. DeepSeek was still No. 1 on Friday.

Reports of DeepSeek’s power and efficiency roiled U.S. markets early in the week, notably hammering chip companies Nvidia and Broadcom, which have soared in value by selling costly processors for building AI models and running massive workloads.

President Donald Trump said Monday that DeepSeek’s sudden rise should be a “wake-up call” for U.S. tech companies. 

As of Jan. 31, NASA personnel are not permitted to use DeepSeek to “share or upload agency data on DeepSeek products or services,” and are “not authorized to “access DeepSeek via NASA devices and agency-managed network connections.” And NASA’s Security Operations Center has now blocked use of DeepSeek on “agency-managed devices and networks,” the memo said.

Late last week, the U.S. Navy instructed its members to avoid using DeepSeek. In a warning issued by email, the Navy said DeepSeek’s AI was not to be used “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage.”

Axios reported Thursday that U.S. congressional offices were being told that use of DeepSeek was “unauthorized for official House use,” citing a notice from the House’s chief administrative officer.