DeepSeek: New Chinese AI refuses to answer questions on topics sensitive to Beijing

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. When asked to describe student-led protests against the Chinese government at Tiananmen Square in 1989, DeepSeek replied: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope.” Remembered euphemistically as the 4 June incident in China, thousands of civilians were killed by the People’s Liberation Army in the summer of 1989 in an attempt to curb student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. When asked to share more details of the 4 June incident in Tiananmen Square, DeepSeek replies by asking users to “talk about something else.” The AI model also evaded questions on India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China controversially claims as part of its southern Tibet territory. Donald Trump calls DeepSeek AI a 'wake-up call' for US firms DeepSeek also maintains in its responses that Taiwan has been an “inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times.” As many users testing the chatbot pointed out, in its response to queries about Taiwan’s sovereignty, the AI strangely uses the first-person pronoun “we” while sharing the Chinese Communist Party’s stance. The AI research assistant company Elicit urged users of DeepSeek’s R1 to exercise caution, claiming it “has clear pro-CCP bias” compared to OpenAI‘s newest o1 model.