Governor Kay Ivey sent a memo to all state agency heads on Wednesday announcing she has banned the use of DeepSeek, Manus and similar technologies on state devices and the state network.
The move comes one day after the release of the GenAI Task Force's final report.
According to a press release from Ivey, the decision is meant to protect the state of Alabama and Alabamians' sensitive data from Chinese infiltration activities.
DeepSeek is a popular Chinese AI startup that offers a free AI-chatbot similar to ChatGPT.
"When it comes to the threat posed by the Chinese government, Alabama takes no chances. Our citizens' information must be protected in the strongest possible ways, which is why we are not only putting a ban on these two Chinese AI companies within our state government, but also safeguarding our state's IT infrastructure from any foreign country of concern. Bad foreign actors have no sanctuary in the state of Alabama," Ivey said on Wednesday.
Memo - Protecting State IT Infrastructure by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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