Kansas legislation banning DeepSeek passes to state Senate after swell of support in House
March 11, 2025 | Allison Muzzy
Editor’s note: This article was written for a class at the University of Kansas’ William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and distributed through the Kansas Press Association.
TOPEKA — A bill seeking to ban DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot, from state devices has advanced in the Kansas Legislature.
HB 2313 passed the House, 95-27, on March 7, after an amendment made by bill sponsor, Kansas Rep. Nick Hoheisel (R-Wichita). The bill was introduced in the Senate on Monday.
ICYMI: DeepSeek: The Chinese AI app that has the world talking
The amendment narrows the language of the bill by removing the phrase, “All state agencies shall prohibit the installation of any application that allows users to access an artificial intelligence platform of concern on any electronic device that is issued by the state agency,” in the bill text.
“We think that might be a little too broad, that would prohibit us having browsers on our laptops because you access DeepSeek through a browser, so we’re just going to simply strike that language to narrow this bill down a bit,” Hoheisel said during House proceedings.
Before passing, two lawmakers voiced their opposition to the bill.
Wichita Democratic Reps. John Carmichael and Ford Carr expressed concerns about the bill being a symbolic gesture to align with the Trump administration, rather than to address cybersecurity and national security issues.
“When it comes to matters of national security, cyber intelligence, cybersecurity, there are experts in that field,” Carmichael said during House proceedings. “Those experts are at the federal government level, and they can impose various safeguards on a national basis but our amateur attempts to do cyber security, in my judgment, are embarrassing.”
Allison Muzzy is a junior at the University of Kansas studying journalism, political science, public policy and East Asian languages and cultures.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Humanizing text analysis, Stride marches to international growth
Computers can do a lot these days, but they can’t process feelings. After all, that’s what sets humans apart from machine — right? Not necessarily it seems, as one Kansas-City based artificial intelligence firm is challenging that notion with its text-analyzing tech that not only identifies subjects but also a writer’s sentiment. A graduate of…
Idle Smart earns $125K in national clean energy program
Idle Smart recently was dubbed a top clean-energy firm and won some substantial investment capital for its technology. Based in Kansas City, Kan., the company was voted by its peers as the top firm in the Energy: US 2016 program, nabbing $125,000 for its smart thermostat device for fleet vehicles, such as semi-trucks. The company’s…
With KC startup Edcoda, students learn as wizard saviors
Across the U.S., student engagement is declining. By the time students reach high school, 2 out of 3 them will become disengaged, according to Gallup’s 2015 figures. But one Kansas City-based startup is working to change that by making fun a top priority. Edtech startup Edcoda created the 3D, online role-playing game Coda Quest, which…
KCK opens up data portal for transparency, ‘public good’
In an effort to increase transparency and improve services, the City of Kansas City, Kan. is offering access to large swaths of public data via a portal that makes the information more digestible. Thanks to a new open data administrative order, KCK launched its new data portal Thursday for residents to see such information as…