White House evaluates Chinese AI, DeepSeek, affect on national security

WASHINGTON: US officials are looking at the national security implications of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) app DeepSeek, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

The National Security Council is reviewing the implications of the app, she said. “This is a wakeup call to the American AI industry,” Leavitt said, adding the White House was working to “ensure American AI dominance”

Read more: What is DeepSeek and why is it disrupting the AI sector?

Investors sold technology stocks across the globe on Monday over concerns the emergence of a low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence model would threaten market dominance of US-based AI leaders.

Leavitt did not indicate that the White House would take any action after its review.

President Donald Trump on Monday said the Chinese app should act as a spur for American companies and said it was good that companies in China have come up with a cheaper, faster method of artificial intelligence.

“The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company should be a wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win,” Trump said.

Trump said Chinese leaders had told him the US had the world’s most brilliant scientists, and he indicated that if Chinese industry could come up with cheaper AI technology, US companies would follow.

Read more: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?

“We always have the ideas. We’re always first. So I would say that’s a positive that could be very much a positive development. So instead of spending billions and billions, you’ll spend less, and you’ll come up with, hopefully, the same solution,” Trump said.