Sen. Husted urges investigation into Chinese AI model security risks

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jon Husted is part of a GOP effort to pressure Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate potential security vulnerabilities in Chinese artificial intelligence models, particularly DeepSeek, which lawmakers warn could compromise American personal and business data.

The Columbus-area Republican joined North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd and five other Senate Republican colleagues – Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn, Indiana’s Todd Young, Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, Texas’ John Cornyn , and Utah’s John Curtis – in sending a letter to Lutnick expressing “deeply troubling” concerns about DeepSeek’s connections to China’s military and intelligence operations.

The lawmakers cited recent reporting that U.S. officials believe DeepSeek “has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China’s military and intelligence operations” and is allegedly sharing user information with Beijing’s surveillance apparatus.

“DeepSeek’s R1’s model release in late January demonstrated the aptitude of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national AI talent and the progress their home-grown models have made relative to leading U.S. products,” the lawmakers wrote earlier this month.