DeepSeek: China’s AI Breakthrough Becomes Instantly a Tool of Repression and Control

When DeepSeek launched six months ago, the world’s financial markets shook. The low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence model was hailed as a technological triumph, an open-source rival to ChatGPT that seemed poised to rewrite the rules of global AI competition. But inside China, the story has played out in a very different way. Instead of focusing on education or innovation, Beijing has converted DeepSeek into something darker. The model has been woven into the state’s surveillance system, tracking citizens, censoring dissent, and helping the Communist Party tighten its grip on daily life.

The Police Weaponize DeepSeek

The clearest example comes from Shenzhen, China’s tech capital, where the police use DeepSeek to scan “millions of surveillance videos with the purpose of finding fugitives and people reported missing.” Earlier this summer, that system delivered a chilling demonstration of its power. Authorities arrested a woman who had been on the run for nearly 15 years in connection with a baby trafficking ring. She was caught not because of a tip or an investigation, but because DeepSeek identified her face in the middle of a massive crowd at a drone show. Tens of thousands of people filled the bay that night, but the AI plucked her out in seconds.

This was not an isolated test. Chinese police have systematically integrated DeepSeek with facial recognition systems, predictive policing platforms, and cross-database identity checks. It no longer just analyzes what you type into a chatbot. It interprets body language, keystroke rhythms, and location data, feeding the results back to local authorities. As one analyst warned, “anything you type could be stored, analyzed, or requested by authorities under China’s data laws.”

Beyond the Courts and Hospitals

Chinese officials have also put DeepSeek to work in other parts of daily life. In Beijing’s courts, officials use the AI to draft legal rulings “in just a few seconds.” In Nanchang, it has been assigned to settle divorce disputes. In Fuzhou, hospitals use the model to explain treatments to patients in simplified terms. On the surface, these examples look like efficiency upgrades. But critics point out that every one of these services doubles as a pipeline for harvesting data. A hospital visit adds to a citizen’s health record in state systems. A divorce proceeding logged through DeepSeek becomes part of a permanent legal file that the government can easily analyze.

In Meizhou, officials connected DeepSeek to a 24-hour public service hotline that answers citizens’ questions immediately. Yet that convenience comes at a cost. Every call is now recorded and processed by an AI directly linked to the Communist Party’s control apparatus.

China’s Embrace of Control

DeepSeek’s transformation from a promising AI model to a surveillance weapon reflects the larger priorities of Beijing. When President Xi Jinping met with the nation’s top business leaders in February, he gave his personal blessing to Liang Wenfeng, the 40-year-old founder of DeepSeek. Liang’s inclusion in that rare photo alongside Jack Ma, Ren Zhengfei, and other corporate giants was a clear signal that the Party had chosen to back the technology. But as with all technology in China, that support comes with a price.

The AI is censored on “political and historical issues considered sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party.” Ask about the Tiananmen Square massacre or the sovereignty of Taiwan, and DeepSeek will respond with silence or propaganda. As researchers noted, the chatbot routinely delivers answers “aligned with CCP propaganda, as required by Chinese law.” In short, its intelligence is programmed to reinforce the Party’s power.

The U.S. Connection

What makes this story even more troubling is that American technology has helped make it possible. Reports suggest that DeepSeek was trained on tens of thousands of Nvidia’s high-end chips, hardware that was supposed to be off-limits under U.S. export restrictions. A congressional report went further, warning that “DeepSeek funnels Americans’ data to the PRC through backend infrastructure connected to a U.S. government-designated Chinese military company” and that its model was “highly likely” built using “unlawful model distillation techniques” copied from leading U.S. AI systems.

In July, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang even praised China’s efforts, saying, “Chinese-developed LLMs are world-class and vital for global AI progress.” His comments were welcomed by Chinese state media, which has used international recognition as proof that Beijing’s strategy is working.

Global Alarm

Other nations are not convinced. Australia banned DeepSeek from government devices, with South Korea quickly following. In India, regulators warned the app could “pose risks to the confidentiality of government data and documents.” Italy and the Czech Republic have blocked access altogether, with Prague warning that DeepSeek, like all Chinese tech firms, is legally required to hand over data if Beijing asks.

Even in the United States, the House of Representatives warned staff not to use the app, citing national security risks. Samm Sacks, a Yale researcher on Chinese cybersecurity, explained why: “That data, in aggregate, can be used to glean insights into a population, or user behaviors that could be used to create more effective phishing attacks, or other nefarious manipulation campaigns.”

A Dark Future for AI Under Beijing

For all its promises of open-source innovation, DeepSeek has become a window into China’s priorities. Where the U.S. largely develops AI to expand opportunity in education, medicine, and science, China uses AI to watch, record, and control. The arrest in Shenzhen was not just a victory for law enforcement; it was a message to the Chinese people that they can never disappear from the state’s gaze.

While Beijing wants to export DeepSeek and present itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence, the reality inside its borders is stark. The AI that astonished the world has already been turned into an instrument of repression. It offers a chilling reminder that when it comes to China’s use of new technologies, innovation is never the end goal. Control is.

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