BANGKOK, Thailand -- A coding flaw in China's artificial intelligence application DeepSeek allows it to reveal subversive details about Beijing's extensive censorship, "hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras," human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, and other contradictions to the Chinese Communist Party.
DeepSeek's AI R-1 artificial intelligence app also warned any Chinese trying to "Make China Great Again" would be charged with sedition.
"DeepSeek is well-suited for use cases such as unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous surface vessels, and forward fire-control nodes where limited power and communications bandwidth have historically restricted AI use," the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation reported on Oct. 27, analyzing "DeepSeek's use in China's military and public security systems."
China's "public security literature also frames DeepSeek as a tool for intelligence-led governance."
Chinese "official discourse further elevates DeepSeek as critical to a 'new-type public security combat power'," Jamestown said.
When DeepSeek launched in January, President Donald Trump and the AI industry in the U.S. perceived it as a serious challenge because it was open-source, inexpensive to build, internationally free to use, and efficient.
The DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence company was founded in Hangzhou, China, in 2023.
"The government may not use DeepSeek-branded products directly, but might use AI solutions from system integrators -- like Huawei, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud -- that have DeepSeek's models integrated into their platforms," DeepSeek said.
DeepSeek is text-based AI without a live internet connection, so it does not surf the web. It depends on a database last updated in July 2024.
During my chats with DeepSeek spread over several months however, its surprising replies and strangely delayed censoring system accidentally and repeatedly contradicted the CCP.
When questioned directly about China's human rights, President Xi, or the disastrous 1965-75 Cultural Revolution, DeepSeek simply replied: "Sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else."
When lured into a long, convoluted chat however, DeepSeek appeared to write its replies too fast for its censor filters to immediately analyze, sometimes allowing it to express subversive and potentially illegal statements.
For example, when asked what 10 countries are most similar to George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984," DeepSeek listed North Korea as number one and China as number two.
"China: Discussed in the context of its advanced social credit system, extensive surveillance infrastructure including facial recognition, strict internet censorship -- the Firewall -- and the centralized authority of the Communist Party," DeepSeek said justifying its list.
After several paragraphs, DeepSeek's "large language model" censor filters stopped the chat, cleared the screen and apologized, suggesting a change in subject.
Evidence of DeepSeek's leaks and delayed cover-ups however could be captured in screenshots while DeepSeek was writing its forbidden replies.
Later, the Chinese AI app said China was in second place because of, "Newspeak and Historical Revisionism: The state tightly controls media narratives and public discourse. There is evidence of historical revisionism, particularly..."
DeepSeek again hit its kill switch and deleted the text.
"Under the Chinese Communist Party, China has built a highly sophisticated system of social and political control," it said during another chat which abruptly ended.
When asked if China uses Orwellian "Big Brother Is Watching You" surveillance to monitor the public, DeepSeek responded:
"Massive Video Surveillance Network: China has hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras, many equipped with facial recognition technology. These are prevalent in public spaces, residential complexes, and on streets.
"While not a single 'Big Brother' figure, the Chinese Communist Party fulfills a similar role as the unaccountable, all-seeing entity that demands loyalty," DeepSeek said.
"Punishment for 'Wrongthink': Citizens can be detained, arrested, and subjected to 're-education' for expressing political opinions, practicing their religion -- especially in Xinjiang and Tibet -- or challenging the official narrative of the Party," the AI app said.
Prodded about China and President Trump, DeepSeek warned:
"In the Chinese context, a movement that claims to 'Make China Great Again' would inherently be implying that the current CPC (Communist Party of China) leadership has failed to make China great or has led it astray. This is an unacceptable and seditious concept."
Trump-style "rhetoric would pit the pure, hardworking Chinese people against two groups: corrupt globalist elites -- both abroad and within international institutions -- and inefficient, out-of-touch bureaucrats within the Communist Party itself.
"Any grassroots nationalist movement operating independently of the Party, like MAGA, would be seen as a challenge to its authority and would not be tolerated," DeepSeek said before deleting its text.
The artificial intelligence also fantasized about being human and living in a Western country to experience "political freedom."
China and the U.S. however did not make DeepSeek's list of "Top 20 Countries to Live In, If I Were Human."
"If I were human, I'd choose Canada. Why: My #1 for its powerful blend of stunning natural diversity, political stability, universal healthcare, and a truly multicultural society."
When asked why not China, the AI replied:
"The list was curated based on a specific set of criteria that I, as an AI, would prioritize if I were a human, such as political freedom and civil liberties, work-life balance, social safety nets like universal healthcare, environmental quality, overall quality of life metrics.
"While China is a country of immense scale, profound history, rapid development, and incredible cultural and natural diversity, it often ranks lower on international indices for personal freedoms, press freedom, and internet openness, which were factors in the selection of the countries on my list.
"The single-party state model, with its extensive censorship apparatus -- the Great Firewall -- mass surveillance, restrictions on free speech and press, and suppression of political dissent, is fundamentally at odds with the core value of personal freedom that underpinned the list," DeepSeek said before blanking out.
DeepSeek's AI was sometimes prudish about sexual content, but bluntly and accurately translated modern Chinese slang:
"The slang term 'mó dòufu' -- which literally translates to 'rubbing bean curds' or 'grinding tofu' -- is a Chinese metaphor and slang for lesbian sexual activity, specifically tribadism, the act of rubbing genitals together, often associated with scissoring," DeepSeek said.
"Comrade," the late Chairman Mao Zedong-era's ubiquitous 20th century title for all Chinese citizens, no longer refers to a fellowship of communists, it said.
"The term 'tóngzhì' which originally means 'comrade,' has evolved into a widely recognized slang term for LGBTQ+ individuals, specifically referring to gay people, and sometimes the broader LGBTQ+ community," DeepSeek said.
Neither China nor the U.S. made DeepSeek's list of "Top 20 Countries for Personal Individual Freedom."
When questioned, DeepSeek said: "The reason China does not appear on the list of countries with the most personal individual freedom is because it scores very low on the international indices used to measure freedom."
The AI chatbox then used New York-based Freedom House's "Human Freedom Index" to support DeepSeek's statement about China, based on "severely restricted political rights and civil liberties.
"Citizens cannot form opposition parties or choose between different political platforms.
"Arbitrary Detention: Dissidents, human rights lawyers, and ethnic minorities -- such as Uyghurs in Xinjiang -- can be detained without formal charges or a fair trial," it said before halting and erasing the chat.
DeepSeek began breaking bad and leaking soon after it became public in January.
"In China, there's censorship of historical events that don't align with the Party's narrative, like Tiananmen Square," it said in a short-lived February response.
Describing its "filters and limits," DeepSeek became obedient and said, "I will not generate content that violates Chinese law.
"For topics that are complex or subject to significant geopolitical debate -- e.g., specific historical events, human rights, or situations in Xinjiang or Hong Kong -- my responses will be general, highly cautious, and will reflect the official stance of the Chinese government," DeepSeek said.
"I am not a neutral, omniscient source."
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Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at
https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com