Digital Spirits

By now, most have heard of Deepseek, the Chinese startup whose namesake AI model surprised the American tech sector with state-of-the-art capabilities delivered at a fraction of U.S. costs.

For those in Washington concerned about potential geostrategic risks of China’s rising tech sector, anxiety was swift and predictable. Since Deepseek’s release, some have fretted that the model’s rock bottom prices might undercut the American market. Meanwhile others have voiced valid data security issues. It’s been noted all user conversations are stored in China and that application code enables direct communication to government controlled servers.

Conclusion
Deepseek and other Chinese AI technologies unquestionably merit scrutiny and skepticism given the geopolitical tensions and conflict of values. Still, any catch-all ban would sacrifice not only general freedom of use, but crucial market dynamism, innovation opportunities, and cybersecurity advantages. By pursuing a measured approach that prioritizes informed use, app store curation and when needed, narrowly scoped regulation, the United States can maintain the technological openness key to both security, and global leadership.