On May 9, 2025, Microsoft CEO Brad Smith testified at a US Senate hearing, stating that Microsoft has banned employees from using the artificial intelligence applications developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. The reasons cited for this ban include data security vulnerabilities and the risk of generating content related to Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
At the Senate Commerce Committee hearing chaired by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Smith emphasized that a crucial factor in determining whether the US or China (CCP) emerges victorious in this competition is whose technology is most widely adopted around the world.
Concerns about Chinese Communist Party propaganda and the flow of personal data to the CCP have prompted Microsoft to prohibit the use of DeepSeek by its employees. DeepSeek’s applications are also not available in the Microsoft app store.
The three major US tech giants in artificial intelligence – OpenAI, Microsoft, and AMD – CEO were present at the hearing, proposing various policy recommendations and urging the government to increase infrastructure investment and reduce regulatory barriers to ensure that the US maintains a lead over the CCP in the AI competition.
Smith emphasized that for the US to succeed in the field of AI, it must support domestic companies at various levels of the AI industry and strengthen cooperation with allies.
DeepSeek, a startup based in Hangzhou, China, released an open-source inference model R1 in January of this year. However, it quickly faced accusations from the international community of collecting user data for the Chinese government, leading to multiple countries imposing restrictions on the company.
A report issued by the House Committee on CCP Affairs in April highlighted that DeepSeek not only stole user information for the Chinese government but also clandestinely manipulated AI-generated content, becoming the latest tool used by the CCP for whitewashing its image, monitoring foreign citizens, and circumventing US export control restrictions. The report explicitly emphasized that DeepSeek poses a serious threat to US national security.