A group of Republican senators is asking Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate data security vulnerabilities posed by Chinese open-source AI models – such as DeepSeek – that might be feeding information back to the Chinese government.
Led by Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., the seven senators are asking for details on how Chinese-based AI companies may be using their models to compromise the personal information of Americans and enterprise data by relaying this information to Chinese military and intelligence organizations.
“DeepSeek’s R1’s model release in late January demonstrated the aptitude of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national AI talent and the progress their home-grown models have made relative to leading U.S. products,” reads an Aug. 1 letter from the senators.
“The Trump Administration has rightly emphasized winning the AI competition against the PRC, and the development of AI use case applications for businesses and consumers is an important facet of that competition,” the senators said. “Ensuring that such applications are secure and not prone to leaking secure information and malign exploitation is paramount.”
Specifically, the senators are asking that the Commerce Department evaluate potential backdoors or vulnerabilities from Chinese open-source models and brief Congress on the department’s findings.
Commerce should also share its plans to promote its cybersecurity and data protection work through the Center for AI Standards and Innovation while reviewing loopholes in export controls on semiconductors, the letter says.
Senators joining Sen. Budd in sending the letter included Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., John Husted, R-Ohio, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Todd Young, R-Ind.
Preventing Chinese-developed AI systems and models from being deployed within the United States has been a priority of Congress as seen in recent legislation including a bill that would ban Federal agencies from buying PRC-linked AI.