HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen banned the use of DeepSeek, a China-based artificial intelligence platform, on all Montana Department of Justice (MTDOJ) devices as it poses serious security risks making information shared by its users available to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a known adversary of the United States. Additionally, MTDOJ employees may not use DeepSeek for any governmental purpose.

In a letter sent to MTDOJ employees, Attorney General Knudsen outlined the security threats DeepSeek poses to its users. The program stores data on servers inside the People’s Republic of China, has code hidden in its programming which has the built-in capability to send user data directly to the Chinese government, and users may unknowingly be creating accounts in China, making their identities and online behavior visible to the CCP.

“As Attorney General my primary responsibility is the safety and security of Montanans. That begins with protecting law enforcement from data breaches and foreign espionage,” Attorney General Knudsen wrote. “Accordingly, use of DeepSeek on any MTDOJ device, including but not limited to cell phones, laptops, tablets, and desktop computers is prohibited, effective immediately.”

DeepSeek has already been blocked on government devices in Canada, Australia, South Korea, and Taiwan. While Italy has blocked the program across the country. DeepSeek is also linked to China Mobile which has close ties to the Chinese military and has been sanctioned by the U.S. government.

Attorney General Knudsen is committed to protecting Montanans from CCP efforts and technology used to spy on them. His office wrote and helped pass the law that banned the Chinese spying tool TikTok in Montana during the 2023 legislative session. In December, he led a brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold the national TikTok ban.

Click here to read the letter.