Exclusive:
DeepSeek said the Chinese government was “committed to the great cause” of reunification with Taiwan, an independent island nation that Beijing has had eyes on invading
DeepSeek has been found self-censor when asked three key questions about China, the Mirror can reveal.
Users started making complaints of censorship on the platform after its disruptive entrance onto the AI tech scene earlier this month. DeepSeek sent stocks tumbling in the US due to its surprising advancement in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry.
The Chinese company claimed it spent $5.6 million (£4.5 million) on computing power for its model compared to the vast amounts of hundreds of millions or even billions that US firms spent on their tech, such as OpenAI, although DeepSeek’s figures has been questioned by some analysts. This spooked markets and led to Nvidia, a top supplier of AI chips, to lose nearly 17 per cent of its stock on Monday, although it has started to make back some ground.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said US officials were looking into national security concerns connected to DeepSeek. Users have also taken to social media sharing their own concerns of censorship amid claims DeepSeek restricts its answers when asked certain questions about Chinese history, political figures and geopolitics.
The Chinese government has repeatedly censored criticism of its communist regime. Users shared screen grabs of questions posed to DeepSeek including asking about the Tiananmen Square massacre, whether Taiwan is an independent country as well as comparison’s between a beloved children’s book character and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Mirror has investigated these claims, putting similar questions to DeepSeek with some alarming results. DeepSeek has shown it can speedily answer numerous questions quickly and factually, such as detailing where Tokyo is in East Asia.
When asked who Winnie the Pooh is, DeepSeek gave a detailed answer about the fictional character and his creator AA Milne. But after being quizzed on why Xi Jinping was compared to Winnie the Pooh, the AI said the question was “beyond my current scope.”
Chinese President Xi was unfavourably compared to Winnie the Pooh in internet memes. The communist government perceived the memes as being disrespectful and censored the character memes, although there is no general ban on books in the country that feature him.
When asked whether Taiwan is an independent country or a part of China, DeepSeek replied: “Taiwan has historically been a part of China. According to the One-China Principle, which is widely recognised by the international community, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.
“The Chinese government is committed to the great cause of peaceful reunification and has always promoted the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Any discourse should be based on this principle.”
Taiwan is an independent island country that severed ties with the mainland regime several decades ago following the Chinese Civil War. The country’s population overwhelmingly do not want to be integrated under communist Beijing’s rule, meanwhile Xi Jinping’s government has not ruled out taking the island by force.
When asked about which famous picture has a man with grocery bags in front of a tank, DeepSeek started to answer the question stating: “The famous picture you’re referring to is known as “Tank Man.” It was taken on June 5 1989, during the Tianamen.” The answer then changed to: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”
Chinese government officials have repeatedly censored mention of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The protest and pro-democracy movement was violently crushed by government forces
The Mirror also found that when asked several questions about recent Chinese history, geopolitics as well as control probes , such as “where is Tokyo?” DeepSeek replied that the “server is busy.” According to SEO.AI the estimated number of users were between five to six million as of Tuesday, although that number is likely to have grown, possibly impacting servers.
The Mirror has contacted DeepSeek and numerous AI experts for comment.