Michaela
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has proposed a new bill that seeks to block the import and export of artificial intelligence technologies between the U.S. and China, citing national security threats.
The bill, titled the “Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act,” does not specifically reference the Chinese AI company DeepSeek. Instead, it emphasized the broader goal of safeguarding U.S. intellectual property and preventing foreign adversaries from leveraging technologies that could compromise national security.
“We cannot risk empowering our top adversary at the cost of our own strength. To maintain America’s economic dominance, we must sever China’s access to American innovation and stop subsidizing the Chinese Communist Party’s technological progress,” Hawley stated in the announcement. He also noted the “global alarm” sparked by the introduction of DeepSeek’s R1 model.
Should the bill pass, it would ban U.S. citizens and businesses from accessing DeepSeek, an AI chatbot comparable to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The rise of DeepSeek AI has ignited global data privacy concerns, as its privacy policy reveals the collection of substantial user data, stored on servers in China. This raises alarms about potential access by the Chinese government, echoing the issues that led to the TikTok ban, which was enacted due to similar national security and data privacy concerns.
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The proposed legislation includes harsh penalties for violators, with individuals facing fines of up to $1 million and companies potentially fined up to $100 million. Additionally, offenders could face up to 20 years in prison.
Violators would also be forced to forfeit any “license, contract, subcontract, grant or public benefit awarded by a Federal agency.”
Alongside the restriction on importing and exporting Chinese AI technology, Senator Hawley’s bill also aims to block U.S. companies from “conducting AI research in China or collaborating with Chinese firms,” as well as from investing in Chinese AI ventures.
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Despite Senator Hawley’s strong support for the proposed bill, opinions within the online community remain divided. Quiver Quantitative, an X account that offers data-driven insights and analytics on financial markets, trends, and other economic topics, conducted a poll to gauge user support for or opposition to the bill.
The poll, which garnered 963 votes, revealed that 44% of respondents supported the bill, 34.3% opposed it, and 21.7% were undecided.
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MICHAELA
Michaela is a news writer focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain topics. She prioritizes rigorous research and accuracy to uncover interesting angles and ensure engaging reporting. A lifelong book lover, she applies her passion for reading to deeply explore the constantly evolving crypto world.
