“I don’t think there is any determination,” says EAM Jaishankar on possibility of ban on DeepSeek

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on April 11, while speaking at the 9th Carnegie Global Tech Summit, said that now is not the time to make any determination about DeepSeek.

When asked if the government was considering a possible ban on the Chinese AI platform DeepSeek, like the Chinese social media app TikTok, Jaishankar said he would choose to be evasive now.

“I will be deeply evasive about the answer. My honest answer is, I don’t think at this time there is any determination,” he said.

Earlier, on February 25, the Delhi High Court refused to advance an urgent hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to block DeepSeek in India.

The bench, led by the Chief Justice of Delhi, observed that users have the option to refrain from using the Chinese AI platform if it poses a threat, stating that if it is harmful, they are not compelled to use it. There is no basis for requesting an urgent hearing, said the court.

The court was hearing an application moved by the petitioner. On February 12, the Court asked the counsel representing the Union government to seek instructions on the matter. It was listed again on February 20 but could not be taken up due to a lack of time, so the next date given was April 16.

Meanwhile, on February 5, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India will have its first foundational Artificial Intelligence model in about 10 months. The Minister said that the government is going to host an open-source model like the Chinese ‘DeepSeek’ on Indian servers.

This comes at a time when Chinese startups have challenged the AI world. The Minister said one must look at the entire India AI mission in a more comprehensive manner. He said India approved the AI mission last year, with an allocation of about Rs 10,000 crore.

(With inputs from ANI)