The Finance Ministry has asked its employees not to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official work.

Finance Ministry has asked its employees not to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official work. The recently issued advisory warns that these tools could pose a risk to confidential government data and documents.

Risks of ChatGPT, DeepSeek

According to the Finance Ministry advisory, “It has been determined that AI tools and AI apps (such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek etc.) in office computers and devices pose a risk to the confidentiality of (government) data and documents.”

Questions raised on DeepSeek

Earlier, the IT ministry had said that privacy concerns related to AI tools like DeepSeek could be managed by hosting the open-source model on Indian servers. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI app, is facing scrutiny worldwide. Dutch authorities recently launched an investigation into its privacy policies, raising questions about how the app handles users’ data. Other countries are also conducting similar investigations into DeepSeek.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said last month that the country could launch its own safe and secure indigenous AI model at an affordable cost within six months.

The Indian AI model will help the country emerge as a more reliable technological powerhouse of AI solutions in the days to come. Supported by a high-end general computing facility, the IndiaAI mission is now closer to customizing indigenous AI solutions for the domestic context using Indian languages.

India is a global market for AI.

OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said at an event on Wednesday that India is an important market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the second-largest market for the company globally.

According to Altman, “India is a very important market for AI and our second largest market. Models are still not cheap. India should be the leader in this field.”