Kristen Smith
Data analytics firm Exiger said its Threat Actor Intelligence tool has revealed links between Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, which recently released a large language model, and the People’s Liberation Army of China.
According to Exiger’s report, titled DeepSeek’s Deception: How the Chinese Military and Government Funded DeepSeek’s AI Research, the tool found that DeepSeek researchers have worked on 396 PLA-funded AI research projects and are affiliated with China’s government talent recruitment programs and government-affiliated entities.
The research also indicates that dozens of DeepSeek’s researchers were involved in developing and testing China’s nuclear weapons, the New York Times reported.
Despite their involvement in such projects, DeepSeek participated in similar AI-related efforts with over 40 U.S. universities and companies within the last five years.
Exiger’s findings resulted in the U.S. government’s crackdown on the Chinese startup and American chip maker Nvidia, which is currently under a congressional investigation to determine whether it delivered critical technology to DeepSeek for AI development, violating U.S. export controls.
According to the data analytics firm, Threat Actor Intelligence can provide government agencies, industry and research institutions with insight into adversarial technology ecosystems, enabling them to detect and defend against emerging national security threats.
