DeepSeek’s big-picture message: Embrace the open-source movement for wider benefits

Given the fate of TikTok in the US and blacklisting of Tencent Holdings, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before Hangzhou-based DeepSeek will face a US crackdown. It doesn’t help that it stores data on Chinese servers. Or that animosity between Beijing and Washington runs high [now that a trade war is underway].

Also Read: President Trump’s first big test: America’s TikTok ban

Regulators from Italy to Taiwan and Texas have started restricting the use of DeepSeek. Global scrutiny will only multiply. The national security arguments driving America’s looming TikTok ban, which is currently experiencing a temporary reprieve thanks to US President Donald Trump, are only heightened when it comes to the GenAI tool. And its growing number of users—it shot to the top of US app stores over the past week—will raise global lawmakers’ concerns that it could be used by Beijing to gather large swathes of user data or sway their opinions with its outputs.

Many Silicon Valley leaders have said they’re impressed by DeepSeek and welcome competition. But they’ve also used it to ask for more support for US AI infrastructure and policies to further hold back China. US officials are probing whether DeepSeek obtained advanced Nvidia chips by getting around restrictions.

Also Read: Silicon Valley’s blind spots have been exposed by China’s DeepSeek

I am tempted to imagine an alternate reality where the Chinese and US consumer tech ecosystems could coexist. There is no doubt that Americans would be better off with the lower-cost and more efficient AI offerings that DeepSeek has developed. Embracing Chinese competition, instead of barring it, would also help address the bipartisan concerns around US Big Tech’ market dominance.

Yet, such a mutually beneficial utopia that lets Chinese and American tech companies compete and complement each other, benefitting consumers, businesses and innovation, cannot exist in today’s geopolitical climate.

As the TikTok saga played out, US lawmakers made it clear that any Chinese tech product can be considered a national security threat. The designation of gaming publisher Tencent as an alleged Chinese military company hammered that viewpoint home. And, unfortunately for DeepSeek, the stakes are arguably higher when it comes to AI, which lawmakers worry could have military applications.

Also Read: What America’s technology denial and China’s AI success imply for India

But the developers of DeepSeek made a cheeky choice in developing their AI models open source (or ‘open weight,’ for those who want to be technical). They also published a research paper on how they built their model, although withholding details on training data. They made their product free for global users and developers to tinker with.

The open-source route provides transparency, potentially assuaging fears about Beijing’s control. As my colleague Parmy Olson has written, this stands in stark contrast with the route OpenAI has taken in keeping its proprietary AI models shrouded in a black box.

Also Read: Sam Altman’s strategic ambiguity on AI sounds a lot like doublespeak

In other words, Washington can ban DeepSeek’s app, but the startup has published most of its breakthroughs online. It’s also allowing programmers around the world to modify it and build tailored products using its technology free. Such a service will be difficult to stamp out. It also could be viewed as an ironic move from a country that ostensibly celebrates free markets and innovation.

As prominent Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen put it: “Closed source, opaque, censorious, politically manipulative versus open source and free is not the winning position the US needs."

There’s a point to be made that banning Chinese software and technology is fair game for the US, given that China prohibits most US tech influence behind the Great Firewall, from Meta’s social media sites to Alphabet’s Google search engine.

Instead of following the authoritarian playbook and clamping down on a democratizing piece of technology, the US should be strategic with its next move. Tech leaders and policymakers should examine how DeepSeek’s open-source breakthroughs could be used to drive American AI innovations.

Not allowing DeepSeek’s products in the US may be inevitable, but it will be nearly impossible for Washington to eliminate their influence. And blocking the app in the US will not stop the rest of the world from accessing its underlying technology. Policymakers and tech leaders should react to this moment by fully embracing the open-source movement. ©Bloomberg