Microsoft Restricts Employees from Using DeepSeek Over Security and Propaganda Concerns
In a Senate hearing, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith revealed that the company has restricted its employees from using DeepSeek, an AI-powered application, due to concerns over data security and potential propaganda influences. Smith confirmed that DeepSeek has not been made available in Microsoft’s app store either.
Concerns About Data Security and Chinese Influence
Smith explained that the ban was driven by concerns that DeepSeek stores user data on Chinese servers, which are subject to Chinese law. This raises the possibility of cooperation with Chinese intelligence agencies.
DeepSeek’s privacy policy explicitly states that data is stored in China, and the app is known to heavily censor sensitive topics, in line with the Chinese government’s guidelines. These concerns led Microsoft to take preventive measures against potential misuse.
Microsoft’s Azure Offering of DeepSeek’s AI Model
According to TechCrunch, despite the restrictions on the DeepSeek app, Microsoft did make DeepSeek’s R1 model available on its Azure cloud service.
However, this is different from offering the chatbot app directly. Since DeepSeek is open-source, users can download the model, store it on their own servers, and avoid sending data back to China. Still, Smith acknowledged risks such as the model spreading propaganda or generating insecure code.
Also read: India Moves to Fix AI Infrastructure Gap with National Datacentre Push
During the hearing, Smith noted that Microsoft had taken steps to address potential issues by modifying DeepSeek’s AI model internally. The company worked to remove “harmful side effects,” although specific details about the changes were not provided.
Competitive Landscape and App Store Availability
While Microsoft has restricted DeepSeek, its app store does allow other chat competitors, such as Perplexity, to be listed. However, applications from Microsoft's rival Google, including the Chrome browser and the Gemini chatbot, did not appear in the search results within the Windows app store as per TechCrunch.
