US senator proposes $1 million fine, 20 years jail time for users downloading DeepSeek app - The Times of India

US senator proposes $1 million fine, 20 years jail time for users downloading DeepSeek app – The Times of India

Posted by author February 6, 2025 Tech

US Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill to ban the import and export of artificial intelligence (AI) products between the US and China. If passed, the law would impose severe penalties, including up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both, for individuals who knowingly download Chinese-developed AI models like DeepSeek. The bill proposed by Hawley, named Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act, will completely cut off US-China cooperation on AI. This bill if passed would prohibit the import and export of AI technology from China, restrict American companies from conducting research there, and ban US investments in Chinese AI tech firms. This comes after Chinese startup DeepSeek disrupted the AI market and US tech giant Microsoft also announced a partnership with the company.

What the US Senator said in the proposed bill

In a statement, the US senator said: “Every dollar and gig of data that flows into Chinese AI are dollars and data that will ultimately be used against the United States. 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 subsidisation of CCP innovation.”
Hawley also described DeepSeek as “a data-harvesting, low-cost AI model that sparked international concern and sent American technology stocks plummeting.”
With this proposed bill, Hawley wants the US 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.

The bill specifically prohibits “the importation into the United States of artificial intelligence or generative artificial intelligence technology or intellectual proprietary developed or produced in the People’s Republic of China.”
As per the bill, US citizens who violate this “shall be subject to the criminal penalties set forth in subsection (b) of section 1760 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U. S.C, 4819).”
That law also states: “A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids and abets in the commission of, an unlawful act described in subsection (a) (1) shall be fined not more than $1,000,000; and (2) in the case of the individual, shall be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.”