Finance Ministry bans use of ChatGPT, DeepSeek for official purposes. Here’s why

Finance Ministry has asked its employees to avoid using AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes because of the risks these chatbots pose to the confidentiality of government documents and data, Reuters reported, citing an internal department advisory.

“It has been determined that AI tools and AI apps (such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek etc.) in the office computers and devices pose risks for confidentiality of (government) data and documents,” the Reuters report quoted the advistory as saying.

While the notification is reportedly dated January 29, news of its existence coincides with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's trip to India. Altman is expected to meet IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

India's plans to build its own AI:

Last week, Vaishnaw responded to DeepSeek's recent surge in popularity by announcing India's plans to enter the global AI race with its own foundational model.

“The foundational models made in India will be able to compete with the best of the best in the world… With algorithmic efficiency, we can create these models in a much shorter time frame. We will have a world-class foundational AI model in just a few months.” the Union Minister had said then.

The Electronics and IT minister had also stated then that the data privacy issues surrounding DeepSeek could be addressed by hosting open source models on Indian servers.

DeepSeek faces global scrutiny:

Last week, Dutch privacy watchdog AP announced that it was launching an investigation into DeepSeek's privacy policies, specifically how the app uses users' personal information.

Since its sudden rise in popularity, DeepSeek has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators around the world over its privacy policies. The Chinese app has already been banned in Italy after failing to satisfy privacy concerns raised by the country's data protection authority.

Meanwhile, Australia announced on Tuesday it was banning DeepSeek from all government devices over similar concerns.