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 January 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.
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman met with India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday and discussed India’s plan of creating a low-cost AI ecosystem.
Vaishnaw said in a post on X that he had a “super cool discussion” with Altman on India’s “strategy of creating the entire AI stack — GPUs, model, and apps” and that OpenAI was willing to collaborate on all three.
Altman’s India visit, his first since 2023, comes at a time when the company faces legal challenges in the country, its second-largest market by number of users.
Vaishnaw last week praised Chinese startup DeepSeek for shaking up the sector with its low-cost AI assistant, likening its frugal approach to his government’s efforts to build a localised AI model.
“Our country sent a mission to the moon at a friction of the cost that many other countries did right, why can’t we do a model that will be a fraction of the cost that many others do?” Vaishnaw said in a video of part of the discussion with Altman that he posted.
Altman’s trip to India follows visits to Japan and Korea. He clinched deals with SoftBank Group and Kakao . In Seoul, he also held talks with SoftBank and Samsung about the Stargate AI data centre project that has been backed by US President Donald Trump.
