China’s DeepSeek AI Model Triggers Urgency, Skepticism on Hill

The hype around Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek and its potential disruption of Silicon Valley left congressional lawmakers skeptical but also vigilant that the US stay technologically competitive.

“I’ve still got a lot of questions: Is DeepSeek really as powerful as it says?” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill this week. But, he added, we “need to think through how we preclude China from getting our most cutting-edge frontier models.”

“Somebody suggested to me this morning that China may be lying, so there’s all sorts of—there’s endless possibilities. One might be that they have come up with a new technology that’s less intensive on chips and electricity,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), adding this is the “latest episode” in the US-China tech war.

DeepSeek’s new AI model sent shockwaves across global markets this week over suggestions the technology is more advanced and cost-efficient than leading US industry products like OpenAI‘s ChatGPT. The US has been striving to maintain AI leadership globally while China has also vowed to become the world superpower in the technology.

American companies, including OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet’s Google have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into developing new large language models and called for federal support to scale up massive data infrastructure to fuel the AI boom.

DeepSeek’s claims that its latest chatbot rivals or surpasses US products and was significantly cheaper to create has raised major questions about Silicon Valley’s approach and US competitiveness globally. Some tech officials stressed urgency, with venture capitalist Marc Andreessen—an ally of President Donald Trump—framing it as AI’s “Sputnik moment.”

Some lawmakers like Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) remained firm that the US is “on the right track,” while insisting “we have to stay ahead” because China is “very aggressive.”

“We have to develop incentives to keep building in our country,” Rounds said in an interview.

Efforts like tightening US AI export controls to limit China’s access, increasing federal investment in research and development, and easing industry regulations have been floated by industry and lawmakers to bolster American competitiveness.

“Both the Administration and lawmakers are laser-focused on maintaining US leadership in this space, with no signs of easing up on the rhetoric surrounding export controls and the need to outpace foreign adversaries,” said Joseph Hoefer, AI policy lead at lobbying firm Monument Advocacy. “Expect this to remain a central talking point as AI policy continues to dominate the national security and innovation agenda.”

A ‘Wake-Up Call’

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made achieving AI dominance a top priority, moving to reverse Biden-era policies and announcing billion-dollar private sector investments.

Trump this week said the DeepSeek news is a “wake-up call” for American companies to boost competition. He also reiterated his pledge to impose new tariffs on foreign computer chips and semiconductors.

Still, there’s been debate in industry and government over how to best mitigate China. For Cornyn, DeepSeek’s open-source model is “good news” as “American companies can build on that new technology, if in fact, it is valid.”

Warner, however, questioned China’s access to open-source software. “You’re not gonna put the genie back in the bottle,” he said, “but there are security concerns.”

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blamed DeepSeek’s progress on the Biden administration’s AI policies, which he said “impeded” US leadership over the last four years. The Biden administration issued export controls on advanced AI chips—a move intended to limit China’s access. DeepSeek’s model has triggered concerns about the efficacy of such export rules and whether they need additional review.

“I’ve got some ideas on some changes,” Warner said. “It opens a lot of questions.”