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A2 u.s. news
Friday 7 February 2025
House lawmakers push to ban AI app DeepSeek from U.S.

government devices

MATT BROWN ment. “This commonsense,
Associated Press bipartisan piece of legisla-
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bi- tion will ban the app from
partisan duo in the the U.S. federal workers’ phones
House is proposing legisla- while closing backdoor
tion to ban the Chinese operations the company
artificial intelligence app seeks to exploit for access.
DeepSeek from federal de- It is critical that Congress
vices, similar to the policy safeguard Americans’
already in place for the data and continue to en-
popular social media plat- sure American leadership
form TikTok. in AI.”
Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D- The bill would single out
N.J., and Darin LaHood, R- DeepSeek and any AI ap-
Ill., on Thursday introduced plication developed by
the “No DeepSeek on its parent company, the
Government Devices Act,” hedge fund High-Flyer, as
which would ban federal subject to the ban. The
employees from using the legislation includes excep-
Chinese AI app on gov- tions for national security
ernment-owned electron- and research purposes that
ics. They cited the Chinese would allow federal em-
government’s ability to use The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. ployers to study DeepSeek.
the app for surveillance 28, 2025. Associated Press Some lawmakers wish to go
and misinformation as rea- further.
sons to keep it away from published an AI model competition between the nese parent company or A bill proposed last week
federal networks. that performed at a com- U.S. and China in a range face a ban across the U.S.; by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.,
“The Chinese Communist petitive level with models of areas, including techno- that policy is now on hold. would bar the import of ex-
Party has made it abun- developed by American logical innovation. President Donald Trump, port of any AI technology
dantly clear that it will ex- firms like OpenAI, Meta, Al- The U.S. has levied tariffs who originally proposed a from China writ large, citing
ploit any tool at its disposal phabet and others. Deep- on Chinese goods, restrict- ban of the app in his first national security concerns.
to undermine our national Seek purported to develop ed Chinese tech firms like term, signed an executive Several countries have
security, spew harmful dis- the model at a fraction of Huawei from being used order last month extending moved to ban DeepSeek’s
information, and collect the cost of its American in government systems a window for a long term AI chat bot, either entirely
data on Americans,” Got- counterparts. A January re- and banned the export of solution before the legally or on government devices,
theimer said in a state- search paper about Deep- state of the art microchips required ban takes effect. citing security concerns.
ment. “We simply can’t risk Seek’s capabilities raised thought to be needed to In 2023, Biden banned Tik- Last month, Italy’s data pro-
the CCP infiltrating the de- alarm bells and prompted develop the highest end AI Tok from federal-issued de- tection authority blocked
vices of our government of- debates among policy- models. vices. access to the application
ficials and jeopardizing our makers and leading Silicon Last year, Congress and “The technology race with in a move it said would pro-
national security.” Valley financiers and tech- then-President Joe Biden the Chinese Communist tect users’ data and an-
The proposal comes af- nologists. approved a divestment of Party is not one the United nounced an investigation
ter the Chinese software The churn over AI is coming the popular social media States can afford to lose,” into the companies behind
company in December at a moment of heightened platform TikTok from its Chi- LaHood said in a state- the chatbot. q

IRS workers involved in 2025 tax season can’t take buyout until

after the taxpayer filing deadline

By FATIMA HUSSEIN to federal employees through a “deferred
Associated Press resignation program” to quickly reduce
WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS employees in- the government workforce. The program
volved in the 2025 tax season will not be deadline is Feb. 6, and administration of-
allowed to accept a buyout offer from the ficials said employees who accept will be
Trump administration until after the tax- able to stop working while still collecting a
payer filing deadline, according to a letter paycheck until Sept. 30.
sent Wednesday to IRS employees. The buyouts, sent to roughly 2.3 million
The letter says that “critical filing season workers, are for all full-time federal em-
positions in Taxpayer Services, Information ployees with some exemptions, including
Technology and the Taxpayer Advocate military personnel, employees of the U.S.
Service are exempt” from the administra- Postal Service and positions related to im-
tion’s buyout plan until May 15. Taxpayers migration enforcement. It’s unclear if IRS
have until April 15 to file their taxes unless workers who accept the buyout would
they are granted an extension. only receive five months of pay instead or
Union leaders and worker advocates if they would also get a full eight months.
have criticized the proposal and question The federal government employed more
Treasury Union Employees president Doreen Greenwald speaks whether the government will honor any than 3 million people as of November, ac-
during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Feb. buyout contract. counting for nearly 1.9% of the nation’s
5, 2025 in Washington. The news comes after President Donald entire civilian workforce, according to the
Associated Press
Trump announced a plan to offer buyouts Pew Research Center. q