Congress seeks ban on government use of foreign adversary AI 

Federal agencies would be barred from using artificial intelligence linked to the Chinese government under legislation introduced Wednesday by a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers.

The No Adversarial Al Act proposal from Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, respectively, is a companion to legislation from Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich. 

The bill is the latest in a series of other congressional proposals focused on DeepSeek, a Chinese startup whose low-cost AI model has stirred panic in U.S. tech and AI companies. A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a proposal last month to formally ban its use by federal contractors. Notably, a U.S. official recently told Reuters that DeepSeek was assisting Chinese military and intelligence work. 

Some agencies, like NASA, have issued specific memoranda focused on barring the technology’s use in the federal government. 

The House bill was announced in conjunction with a hearing Wednesday focused on American AI leadership and a committee campaign on raising concerns about protecting American technology and innovation from foreign adversaries. 

This bill, according to a press release, calls for the creation of a list of foreign adversary AI systems managed by the Federal Acquisition Security Council, establish a “delisting” process for companies to show they aren’t working with adversary tech, and formally ban federal agencies from working with the technology in most circumstances.

“With clear evidence that China can have access to U.S. user data on AI systems, it’s absolutely insane for our own federal agencies to be using these dangerous platforms and subject our government to Beijing’s control,” Scott said in a statement. 

Related legislation introduced this year includes a bipartisan Senate bill that would ban DeepSeek from all federal government devices and networks and a bipartisan House bill that would prohibit federal employees from using DeepSeek on their government-issued devices.

“Chinese, Russian, and other adversary AI systems simply do not belong on government devices, and certainly shouldn’t be entrusted with government data,” Krishnamoorthi added.