Chinese AI Company in Violation of Texas State Law
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton
AUSTIN, TEXAS (News Release) – Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced an investigation into DeepSeek—a Chinese artificial intelligence (“AI”) company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”)—regarding the privacy practices of its AI platform and its claims that its AI model rivals the most advanced AI models in the world, including OpenAI’s Model o1.
Attorney General Paxton has also notified DeepSeek that its platform violates the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act. As part of the investigation, Attorney General Paxton sent third-party Civil Investigative Demands (“CIDs”) to Google and Apple requesting their analysis of the DeepSeek application, as well as the documentation DeepSeek was required to submit to them before they made DeepSeek’s app available to consumers.
“DeepSeek appears to be no more than a proxy for the CCP to undermine American AI dominance and steal the data of our citizens,” said Attorney General Paxton. “That’s why I’m announcing a thorough investigation and calling on Google and Apple to cooperate immediately by providing all relevant documents related to the DeepSeek app. The United States and Texas will continue to be at the forefront of global AI innovation, and any CCP-aligned company that tries to undermine that dominance by violating the rights of Texans and illegally undercutting American technology companies will face the full force of the law.”
On January 28, Attorney General Paxton directed that DeepSeek’s platform be banned on all Office of the Attorney General devices over concerns about security and the company’s blatant allegiance to the CCP, including its willingness to censor any information critical of the Chinese government.
