Department of Energy national labs studied DeepSeek, and ‘positives’ may be approved

The China-based artificial intelligence model DeepSeek isn’t available for widespread use at the Department of Energy, but approval of some elements may be possible following a study by two of its national labs, an agency IT official said Tuesday.

DeepSeek’s launch has prompted congressional proposals to rein in its use in government and proactive bans by several federal agencies, including DOE. But during a panel at a FedScoop-produced Salesforce event, Bridget Carper — the agency’s deputy CIO for architecture, engineering, technology and innovation — said the model has still been studied by two DOE national labs.

Carper said the agency allowed two of its labs — which she didn’t identify — to look at the system “because there’s value in testing the open models. There’s value in understanding the performance. How does it actually compare?” 

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