India's Finance Ministry Urges Employees To Avoid AI Tools Like ChatGPT, DeepSeek

The Ministry of Finance has instructed government officials to refrain from using AI tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek on official devices, as they “pose a risk to the confidentiality of government data and documents”.

The advisory, accessed by BOOM, was issued by the Department of Expenditure (DoE) on January 29, 2025.

Other countries, such as Australia and Italy, have also restricted the use of DeepSeek due to data security concerns.

The advisory gained attention on social media on Tuesday, just ahead of OpenAI chief Sam Altman’s visit to India on Wednesday.

This directive follows a training session organised by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) months earlier.

The session focused on the use of ‘ChatGPT-4 Plus’ for officials at the rank of Joint Secretary and below, including Directors and Deputy Secretaries.