Finance ministry asks employees to avoid AI tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek

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.