Must draw a hard line: US lawmakers want AI systems from these countries to be ‘banned’ from government agencies

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers have proposed a bill to ban AI systems from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from federal executive agencies, a report claims. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the legislation wants to create a permanent framework to prohibit the use of these foreign-developed AI models by US government agencies. The recently introduced bill by Representative John Moolenaar (Republican-Michigan) and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (Democrat-Illinois) would require the Federal Acquisition Security Council to establish and regularly update a list of AI models developed in these countries.

What US lawmakers said about this bill

In a statement to Reuters, Moolenaar said: “The US must draw a hard line: hostile AI systems have no business operating inside our government. This legislation creates a permanent firewall to keep adversary AI out of our most sensitive networks, where the cost of compromise is simply too high.”Under the proposed law, federal agencies would be barred from purchasing or using these AI technologies unless granted a specific exemption, such as for research purposes, from the US Congress or the Office of Management and Budget, Reuters reported. The bill also includes a provision allowing technologies to be removed from the banned list if proof is provided that they are not controlled or influenced by a foreign adversary.

This comes after a previous Reuters report cited a senior US official who claimed that DeepSeek is helping China's military and intelligence operations, and the Chinese AI company has had access to "large volumes" of Nvidia's chips.In January, DeepSeek came into the spotlight by announcing it had developed an AI model similar in capability to OpenAI’s ChatGPT but at a lower cost. Since then, several US companies and government agencies have restricted its use due to data security concerns, and the Trump administration is reportedly considering a ban on its use on federal devices.The bill was co-sponsored by US Representative Ritchie Torres (Democrat-New York) and Representative Darin LaHood (Republican-Illinois). In the US Senate, it is being led by Senators Rick Scott (Republican-Florida) and Gary Peters (Democrat-Michigan), the Reuters report added.