00:00Politicians and public servants will be forced to remove DeepSeek from their work computers
00:08and mobile phones and will be prevented from re-downloading it or using it again in the
00:14future.
00:15Of course, the caveat is that they could continue to use it on their private devices, but it
00:20is not advised.
00:21So why the ban?
00:23Ultimately, there are real security fears that DeepSeek could share sensitive information
00:29with the Chinese Communist Party and a red flag has also been raised about censorship
00:35concerns.
00:36Well, remember, DeepSeek is the company that triggered a bit of a share market bloodbath
00:41last week after the company behind it said that it had developed this technology with
00:48a fraction of the computing powers of some of its US rivals, such as ChatGBT.
00:54When it comes to the political reaction here in Canberra today, this move is being welcomed
00:59by both sides of politics.
01:01While the ban doesn't apply to Australians more generally, the public is being reminded
01:06to be really careful of the information they share online, as well as the apps that they
01:10use.
01:11It's a wonderful tool, very helpful for many applications in our lives, but you need to
01:15be aware that the information that you upload may not be private.
01:19So our advice is that we wouldn't want people to upload anything that they wouldn't want
01:23to ultimately become public.
01:26The second risk is that information that you get back from generative AI may not be
01:30accurate.
01:31It might contain misinformation or it might be biased or not cover some topics.
01:36This ban comes amid a broader debate here in Australia about the power and responsibilities
01:41of the tech giants.
01:43So earlier this week, the Albanese government tabled an independent review into the Online
01:48Safety Act, and it made 67 recommendations.
01:51One of the key ones was forcing the tech giants, whether that be, say, Google or Apple,
01:58to implement a duty of care, which would require them to actively remove or prevent harmful
02:04content, otherwise be slapped with billions of dollars of fines.
02:09Ultimately, those recommendations have been put on ice until after the next federal election.
02:15But we did hear from Green Senator Sarah Hansen-Young this morning on the ABC, and she says that
02:21safeguards generally need to be strengthened.
02:24What it does do is highlights just how fast technology is moving and how quickly governments
02:32need to catch up with the regulation of big tech in particular, AI, social media, online
02:41spaces.
02:42And I am worried that despite being able to move fast on something like this in relation
02:49to this Chinese-owned chatbot, that we're seeing the government and seemingly the opposition
02:57starting to crab walk away from stronger regulations against the big tech companies and billionaires
03:07like, of course, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
03:09This isn't the first time that the government has moved to ban an online platform.
03:15Also, TikTok was banned from government devices in 2023.
03:20Ultimately, that was also over potential foreign interference concerns.
03:24But as we know, that hasn't stopped politicians from getting burner phones or using TikTok
03:30on their personal phones to try and connect with the electorate.
03:33No doubt something we'll continue to see as the federal election looms ever closer.
Comments