The Trump administration is banning China’s DeepSeek from US government computers

DeepSeek gets the boot: The US is banning Chinese AI model DeepSeek, and any tools built on it, from civilian federal agencies’ computers, CNBC reports. The order came in July, but was made public this week.

The move highlights how AI is increasingly becoming a battleground between the US and China — a conflict that could create problems for players in the Gulf and elsewhere who are trying to stay on good terms with the two big tech rivals. The US previously banned Huawei tools from the computers of government agencies and their contractors.

China could use DeepSeek tech for spying or to introduce malware into US government computers, the Trump administration warned.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson called that far-fetched. “China consistently opposes the over-generalization of national security as well as the politicization of science, technology and trade issues,” Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said.

MEANWHILE- Macron’s Gulf AI tour: French President Emmanuel Macron toured the Gulf this week, and AI was high on the agenda. Kuwait and France signed defense and AI agreements, and Macron brought along the head of Campus AI — a tech hub near Paris backed by USD bns in UAE funding — to Abu Dhabi.

AND- Emirati startup goes to Silicon Valley: CNTXT AI, a UAE startup that builds Arabic-first AI and data tools for training robots, is opening its first US office, the Wall Street Journal reports. It says it has USD 300 mn in “committed revenues,” mostly from US tech companies.

The business model: Make humans obsolete. CNTXT records human workers in the Middle East doing everyday tasks so the robots can learn to imitate them and do those jobs.