India's finance ministry asks employees to avoid AI tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek

By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Nikunj Ohri

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's finance ministry has asked its employees to avoid using AI tools including ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official purposes, citing risks posed to confidentiality of government documents and data, an internal department advisory showed.

Countries like Australia and Italy have placed similar restrictions on the use of DeepSeek, citing data security risks. Reports of the advisory surfaced on social media on Tuesday, ahead of a scheduled visit to India by OpenAI chief Sam Altman on Wednesday, when he is also due to meet the IT minister.

"It has been determined that AI tools and AI apps (such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek etc.) in the office computers and devices pose risks for confidentiality of (government) data and documents," said the advisory by the Indian finance ministry dated Jan. 29.

Representatives for India's finance ministry, ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Three finance ministry officials said the note was genuine and the note was issued internally this week.

Reuters could not immediately confirm whether similar directives have been issued for other Indian ministries.

OpenAI is facing heat in India due to a high-profile copyright infringement battle with the country's top media houses, and has said in court filings that it does not have its servers in the country and Indian courts should not hear the matter.

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh and Nikunj Ohri; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Aditya Kalra)

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