Americans Face Decades in Prison for Downloading DeepSeek Under New Republican Bill

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced a bill that, if passed, could earn Americans jail time if they were to knowingly download Chinese AI models, including DeepSeek, while actively residing in the US.

The bill presented by Hawley, a Republican, effectively aims to outlaw the import or export of artificial intelligence to and from China. If it were to become law, violators could face up to 20 years in prison or up to $1 million in fines.

The bill, called the Decoupling America's Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act, was introduced on January 29 to "protect America's artificial intelligence (AI) development from China."

"Why are we allowing American tech giants like Microsoft to help China develop DeepSeek and other AI? It's insane. We should ban the transfer of AI technology to China immediately," said Hawley on X (formerly Twitter).

The legislation was introduced due to the release and rapid development of DeepSeek, an advanced AI model created by China that was allegedly developed for just a fraction of the cost its American counterparts had to pay to develop other AI models.

Hawley referred to the model in a statement to 404 Media as "a data-harvesting, low-cost AI model that sparked international concern and sent American technology stocks plummeting."

"Every dollar and gig of data that flows into Chinese AI are dollars and data that will ultimately be used against the United States," he told the outlet. "America cannot afford to empower our greatest adversary at the expense of our own strength. Ensuring American economic superiority means cutting China off from American ingenuity and halting the subsidization of CCP innovation."

Furthermore, Hawley has explicitly stated that with this bill, he aims to "prohibit the import from or export to China of artificial intelligence technology," "prohibit American companies from conducting AI research in China or in cooperation with Chinese companies," and "prohibit U.S. companies from investing money in Chinese AI development."