The decision was due to tensions with China and the US's refusal to use AI technologies referred to as 'available'. This order was put into effect by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which prohibited the use of DeepSeek in many of its civil entries, including government offices of Defense Civilian and the US Embassy in China. No products developed with the help of DeepSeek have been included in the service offerings of major American tech companies such as Snowflake, Vercel, and OpenRouter.

This order is specifically directed at civil entries, including government offices of Defense Civilian and the US Embassy in China, but does not include military entries. The reason why the US decided to stop using DeepSeek is due to its position of power in the AI technology race. China has sought to challenge the security of American AI technologies, criticizing AI products called 'available' from the US.

This has led to a refusal to use AI technologies sourced from China. In particular, the White House criticized AI produced by China, while American AI producers also criticized their own works. DeepSeek has grown rapidly since its first launch in 2025, with a free chatbot model that is one of the most popular in the Apple App Store.

However, these chatbot models are also used by American companies such as Snowflake, Vercel, and OpenRouter. Startups have flourished around open-source models like DeepSeek, which cost much less than any other AI model referred to as 'available'. For an AI engineer or developer, using DeepSeek requires a minimum cost compared to a model called 'available', such as Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, or OpenAI's Codex.

Moreover, the creation of DeepSeek has sparked astronomical investments, whereas for other AI producers, the cost of developing their own models has been largely higher. These announcements have caused negative reactions from some AI producers, such as Anthropic and OpenAI, who declared that their AI models were copied from certain Chinese entities, including DeepSeek. This has led to criticism from the US towards China, considered its main rival in the AI domain.

The decision to halt the use of DeepSeek was due to the US's refusal to use AI technologies sourced from China, which has led to a series of criticisms and negative reactions.