Mie Prefecture Bans China’s DeepSeek Generative AI for Govt Work; Rule Prompted by Concerns about Data Storage on Chinese Servers

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:46 JST, February 8, 2025

The Mie prefectural government has banned the use of the generative AI model developed by Chinese startup DeepSeek in its work, said Gov. Katsuyuki Ichimi during a regular press conference on Friday.

A filtering system that will block DeepSeek AI has been installed on about 5,500 computers used by prefectural employees.

Regarding DeepSeek’s generative AI software, the government warns that data including personal information is stored on servers in China and is subject to Chinese law.

The Tottori prefectural government has also banned the use of DeepSeek’s generative AI for its work.