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
Scavenger hunts and happy hours: 5 featured Techweek events
With Techweek Kansas City quickly approaching and expecting more attendees than ever, it’s time to start pulling out calendars to decide events to hit up. Startland picked a few events off the list that stand to wet the whistle of any techie or entrepreneur. The full schedule is here, which Techweek is expected to expand…
Silicon Valley vet Jason Anderson makes a game out of data collection
As a 4-year-old, Jason Anderson was captivated by the Atari classic Pong. He gawked at the game for hours after his dad brought one home in 1978. Four years later, he was so inspired by Pong that he decided to create his own game — a text adventure on the family’s Timex Sinclair 1000. Anderson…
Compute Midwest named top national tech conference
Consistently attracting futurists and tech leaders from around the U.S., Compute Midwest recently was named a national tech conference that shouldn’t be overlooked. Inc. Magazine included the annual, Kansas City-based conference on its “Top Tech Conferences You Can’t Miss This Fall” list, noting the event’s traditionally strong lineup of speakers. Presented by the Disruption institute,…
Dozens of skyrocketing KC firms break into the Inc. 5000
Kansas City held its own on Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing, private companies. The Wednesday unveiling of the Inc. 5000 featured 44 metro firms — including several area tech firms, like k12itc and Rhythm Engineering. K12itc, which in January made Startland’s 2016 top 10 startups to watch, delivers cloud-based IT services to…