The U.S. government is accusing Chinese AI company DeepSeek of helping China’s military and intelligence agencies while dodging controls that are supposed to limit their access to American technology.
Here’s what the U.S. says DeepSeek is doing — in short, as per Reuters:
- Military links: DeepSeek is allegedly supporting China’s military and intelligence beyond just general-use AI.
- User data sharing: The company is said to be feeding user info and usage stats into China’s surveillance system.
- Named in PLA procurement: U.S. officials say DeepSeek appears 150+ times in documents linked to the Chinese military.
- Export control evasion: They allegedly used Southeast Asian shell companies to access banned Nvidia H100 AI chips.
- Remote chip access: DeepSeek reportedly rents time on overseas servers to get around restrictions on buying these chips directly.
DeepSeek denies using restricted chips, and it hasn’t been blacklisted yet. Nvidia says it’s following all U.S. export rules.
This technically affects Zimbabwe too
Some of you use DeepSeek for writing help, coding, or research. But if the accusations are true, your queries could be feeding China’s surveillance system.
It also shows how much we rely on tools we don’t control, built by companies caught up in global power struggles we know little about.
The U.S. could restrict DeepSeek soon, especially through unofficial platforms many Zimbabweans use. Though honestly, that might not be a big deal, there are so many options now. Maybe that’s even the goal, flood the market with U.S.-friendly tools and starve out the rest.
Not just one company
This isn’t just about DeepSeek. It’s a reminder that AI isn’t neutral. It’s shaping economies, militaries, and deciding who dominates the advanaced tech ecosystem in the world. The U.S. isn’t going to let China make progress easily.
For African countries, especially Zimbabwe, we’re just passengers on this ride. We don’t get to steer. If things escalate, we might find ourselves locked into someone else’s system, with zero say in how it works or what it means for us.
And let’s be honest, most of us won’t care even if it’s proven that DeepSeek did all of this. Either way, we’re powerless to control any of it. So maybe just use whatever helps you get stuff done.
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