DeepSeek’s terms of service explicitly states it stores user data on Chinese servers and that it governs that data under Chinese law — which mandates cooperation with the country’s intelligence agencies.

But that didn’t stop U.S. Department of Defense workers from getting caught up in the DeepSeek hype this week and connecting their work computers to Chinese servers, using the service for at least two days, Bloomberg reported.

The Pentagon has since started blocking DeepSeek on some of its network, although some employees could still access the service, according to Bloomberg. 

The U.S. government is grappling with the national security implications of soaring interest in the Chinese AI chatbot, which has climbed to the top of both the U.S. Apple and Play stores. 

On January 24, the U.S. Navy banned employees from accessing DeepSeek over security and ethical concerns, CNBC reported.