US bans DeepSeek from fed systems
The Department of Homeland Security has ordered all federal civilian agencies to stop purchasing DeepSeek products and remove existing Chinese AI technology from government IT systems, citing national security risks tied to potential data access by Chinese authorities.
- The ban extends beyond DeepSeek’s own products to cover third-party services built using DeepSeek technology, though agencies can request exceptions for specific use cases.
- DHS warned that sensitive information from U.S. government users could be accessible to Chinese authorities under Chinese law, prompting the removal order across federal systems.
- China’s Foreign Ministry pushed back, accusing Washington of “overstretching the concept of national security” and pledged to “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”
For enterprise security teams, this order signals where vendor risk assessments are heading. Any product touching DeepSeek technology now carries federal compliance risk, which will likely influence procurement decisions beyond government contracts. Companies selling to federal agencies should audit their AI supply chains immediately, as third-party DeepSeek dependencies could disqualify them from future contracts.
Google and Amazon are both targeting Nvidia’s grip on AI development by releasing PyTorch versions built for their own chips.
Google launched TorchTPU as an open-source project on Tuesday, letting developers run PyTorch apps on Google’s TPUs with minimal code changes. Amazon made a similar move Monday with TorchNeuron for its Trainium chips. Both releases aim to make it easier for AI developers to port existing work away from Nvidia’s hardware without rewriting their applications.
Google partnered with Meta, Hugging Face, Inferact, and RadixArk to ensure TorchTPU works with popular AI tools, and released a TPU agent suite to help developers migrate and troubleshoot. Amazon went further by submitting code to the main PyTorch project that decouples features from Nvidia’s chips entirely.
PyTorch powers roughly 85% of AI apps, and its deep ties to Nvidia hardware have been a key moat for the chipmaker. These coordinated moves from two hyperscalers signal a serious push to erode that advantage.
Perplexity’s Mac AI Can Skip the Cloud
Your AI assistant would like to cancel its cloud commute.
Perplexity now lets Computer run entire AI workflows on supported Apple silicon Macs, expanding a local AI strategy already on Windows. Pro, Max, and Enterprise subscribers can download a local model through the updated Mac app.
The Oct. 20 release moves planning, reasoning, and task execution onto the Mac using Qwen 3.6 or Perplexity’s customized PPLX Pro. With permission, the company says, Computer can turn messages and emails into a Notes action list or assemble a client proposal from confidential documents. Your inbox’s chaos can thankfully stay an internal affair.
Unlike September’s Hybrid Compute, which starts with cloud reasoning and delegates private-file work locally, this mode starts on your machine. Users can authorize cloud help for current information, browser access, or stronger reasoning.
The catch is memory: Perplexity recommends 36GB or more, rather than declaring a hard minimum, meaning your base-model laptop will likely sit this one out. (At least it’s not Meta’s 1TB RAM requirement for Spark Open.) Local tasks conserve Computer credits, but a paid subscription is still required. Apparently, bringing your own compute doesn’t get you out of the cover charge.
Also, fully local describes the AI processing. Sending email or meeting invitations still uses the relevant app’s service. Perplexity says tool execution is sandboxed, but local agents still need carefully scoped file permissions so they don’t accidentally email your boss your grocery list.
This could make sensitive, repetitive office work less dependent on cloud processing and credit budgets. IT’s job shifts toward deciding which files an agent should touch, because keeping a mistake on your Mac doesn’t make it a better mistake.
DHS Evicts DeepSeek From Civilian Federal Systems
DHS has ordered federal civilian agencies to purge DeepSeek technology from their IT systems and slam the door on future purchases. And because government procurement is never simple, the ban slaps a “do not touch” sign on DeepSeek affiliates and any third-party services smuggling its tech under the hood—so slapping a different vendor’s logo on your software won’t save you.
The directive, which was quietly signed in July but conveniently made public this week, cites all the classic greatest hits: potential data transfers to China, intelligence-gathering risks, and the ever-popular “possible malware.” To be clear, these are the government’s stated paranoias, not hard proof that every DeepSeek chatbot is actively snitching.
Here’s the technical migraine: DeepSeek’s open-source models can run entirely locally or through third-party providers outside China’s borders. But Uncle Sam doesn’t care where your servers live if the model’s DNA is Chinese. Federal suppliers are now on the hook to play forensic genealogist, hunting down embedded models and finding acceptable replacements.
The purge applies specifically to civilian executive-branch systems, so your personal phone is safe for now. Agencies desperate to keep their cheap AI can beg for an exception if they have a compelling mission-critical or national-security excuse, CyberScoop reports.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing is furious. China’s Commerce Ministry demanded Washington scrap the restrictions on Tuesday, crying discrimination and accusing the US of ignoring mutual agreements. Meanwhile, federal vendors who thought they were saving a buck with inexpensive open-weight AI are learning a harsh lesson in tech economics—the cheapest model is actually the one you don’t have to rip out and replace six months later.
Your AI stack’s family tree just became procurement’s biggest headache.
U.S. Bans Chinese AI DeepSeek From Government Agency IT Systems
The U.S. has ordered all AI technology from the Chinese firm DeepSeek to be removed from most government systems over national security concerns tied to the company’s operations in China.
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has banned all use of DeepSeek within civilian government agencies, including any technology built with its AI models.
- The order cited concerns about DeepSeek’s handling of user data, warning that sensitive information from U.S. government users could be accessible to Chinese authorities under Chinese law.
- It also warned that the models may contain malware or other security vulnerabilities.
- The DHS made the order public on Monday, although the ban has been in effect since the end of July.
The move comes as DeepSeek’s powerful, low-cost, open-weight models gain traction globally and AI becomes a key battleground in the intensifying rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
Yelp’s AI Agent Can Now Call Restaurants To Check Wait Times for You
Yelp is introducing an AI voice agent that can call restaurants on users’ behalf to check wait times, alongside new features for restaurant discovery, bookings and personalized recommendations.
- The new Check for Me feature lets users enter their party size and phone number on a restaurant’s Yelp page. An AI agent calls the restaurant to ask about wait times, then texts the results so users can decide whether to visit.
- Yelp is also integrating OpenTable into its AI assistant, allowing users to book restaurants without leaving the app.
- Users can now ask the assistant to create custom reminders, such as sending weekend activity suggestions every Friday.
- For businesses, Yelp is launching Smart Lead Reply, a paid AI product costing $30 per month. Business owners can configure how the agent responds to customer inquiries and qualifies potential leads.
Yelp initially debuted its AI Assistant in 2024, but these new integrations and features show how the company is adapting as AI tools become more adept at actually doing things, not just telling you things.
How to Check if Media Was Created or Edited with Meta AI
- Open Meta’s AI Identification website.
- Upload the image, video, or audio file you want to check. If the file is online, you can also paste its URL.
- Wait for the file to upload and the tool to process it.
- Review the result to see whether Meta detects its Content Seal watermark.
This tool checks only for Meta’s own watermark, not media from every AI system. If it doesn’t detect a Content Seal, that doesn’t prove the file is authentic or that AI wasn’t used to create or edit it. For a second check, you can also use Google’s SynthID Detector, which can identify media made with AI from Google or its partners, including OpenAI and NVIDIA. Checking with both gives you better odds of catching AI-made media.
Microsoft warns that frontier AI models cannot be trusted
Microsoft Security executive Hayete Gallot says frontier AI models should not be trusted regardless of their origin, echoing CEO Satya Nadella’s earlier warning that AI models should be treated as potentially compromised. The company is introducing Project Perception, an agentic security system designed to help cybersecurity teams monitor, secure and control AI agents as their use expands.
CNN, Axios and Financial Times join Google’s AI news program
Google has expanded its AI news program to more than 400 publications worldwide, including CNN, Axios and Forbes, which will license content for generative AI features and explore new ways to reach audiences.
fal launches FLUX 3 Max, claiming 22× faster AI video generation
fal has launched FLUX 3 Max, a video generation model developed with Black Forest Labs that reportedly creates a 10-second clip in 12.45 seconds, compared with 277.8 seconds for Seedance 2.5 in fal’s benchmark.
US prosecutors allege Saudi links in case against former OpenAI engineer
US prosecutors say former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, who is accused of planting a hidden recording device in an executive conference room, appears to have received support from Saudi-linked individuals, including a military official who allegedly paid for his family’s one-way flight to Saudi Arabia.