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AI ‘Dangerous Tool’ In Any Hands, Whether Chinese Or American: Delhi HC On Plea Against DeepSeek Chatbot
The Delhi High Court. (Representative image).
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (13 February) observed that artificial intelligence (AI) is a “dangerous tool” in anybody’s hand, regardless of whether Chinese or American entities control it, The Hindu reported.
The observation came as the court heard a petition demanding that the Indian government block access to DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot operating freely in India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that AI poses inherent risks, emphasising that the government is already aware of such concerns.
“AI is a dangerous tool in anybody’s hand, whether it is Chinese or American, it does not make any difference. It is not that the government is unaware of these things. They are very well aware...,” the bench said, The Hindu reported.
The petition, filed by advocates Bhavna Sharma and Nihit Dalmia, argued that DeepSeek's operations pose “instant and emergent threats” to India’s sovereignty, data security, and public order.
The plea also alleged that DeepSeek's terms of use and privacy policies fail to align with key provisions under:
IT (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
The petitioners noted that DeepSeek has already faced bans and scrutiny in multiple countries.
For example, Italy has banned the chatbot for violating privacy laws, Australia has blocked DeepSeek from all government devices due to security risks, and Ireland, Belgium, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan, the US, and France are investigating its operations.
Additionally, the Ministry of Finance has internally prohibited AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT from being used on government systems, citing concerns over data security.
During the hearing, the Centre’s counsel requested more time to assess the issue and receive further instructions.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on 20 February.
The plea sought direction to the government to block access to DeepSeek in all forms - Apps, Chat, and Platform for public access in India, block access for all Indian government entities to prevent the use or installation of DeepSeek, and remove existing instances of DeepSeek products from all Indian government systems and devices.
