At least one body of the US government has officially banned the use of Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek among its staff. This week, the US Navy handed down the ban, barring its members and servicemen and women from using the app for personal and work-related tasks, citing “security and ethical concerns” as the reasoning behind the ban.

The U.S. Navy issued a warning to its members to avoid using DeepSeek “in any capacity,” due to “potential security and ethical concerns.”

The United States Navy has officially banned the use of China’s DeepSeek AI across all operations. In a memo reportedly sent on Jan. 24, the Navy informed personnel that the generative AI model must not be used “in any capacity,