--- title: "Tech Execs Plead for Great Firewall of America to Protect Them Against Scary Chinese AI" description: "Scaredy Cats The release of DeepSeek's R1 model has precipitated an existential crisis in Silicon Valley, whose executives are now begging the government to protect their AI companies from scary Chinese competition. While some tech leaders are outwardly praising DeepSeek's achievements, they are in the same breath demanding even tighter export controls on Nvidia's AI chips to prevent them from reaching China. \"Well-enforced export controls are the only thing that can prevent China from getting millions of chips, and are therefore the most important determinant of whether we end up in a unipolar or bipolar world,\" wrote Anthropic CEO Dario […]" date: "2025-01-31" modified: "2025-01-31" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/execs-plead-protection-scary-chinese-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "deepseek" - "NVIDIA" - "the digest" --- # Tech Execs Plead for Great Firewall of America to Protect Them Against Scary Chinese AI ![AI executives, along with US lawmakers, are terrified of Chinese AI competing with American tech companies.]() *US President Barack Obama tours the Great Wall of China in Badaling, outside of Beijing on November 18, 2009. The US president was to wrap up his maiden trip to the world's most populous nation with a bit of tourism -- a visit to the Great Wall, one of China's most treasured landmarks -- before heading to South Korea. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Scaredy Cats The release of DeepSeek's low-cost R1 model has precipitated an [existential crisis in Silicon Valley](), whose executives are now begging the government to protect their AI companies from the horrors of the free market. While some tech leaders are [outwardly praising]() DeepSeek's achievements, others are in the same breath demanding even tighter export controls on Nvidia's AI chips to prevent them from reaching China. "Well-enforced export controls are the only thing that can prevent China from getting millions of chips, and are therefore the most important determinant of whether we end up in a unipolar or bipolar world," wrote Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in a [recent blog post](). Amodei could get what he wants. In the capital, lawmakers are echoing calls for a crackdown on advanced AI hardware from entering China, [*The Wall Street Journal* reports]() raising fears that a Chinese AI could win in the marketplace of ideas by becoming popular domestically. ## That's Rich Such talk reeks of hypocrisy. US leaders love to harp on China's so-called "Great Firewall" that blocks or limits access to many Western websites and services, [including ChatGPT](), enforced under the guise of protecting citizens from misinformation while being used to prop up domestic alternatives. Now, these freedom-loving power players are basically calling for their own version of such draconian measures to prevent Chinese companies from nipping on American heels. On Thursday, two members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party — which should tell you what their whole deal is — called for restricting exports of Nvidia's H20 AI chip, citing speculation that DeepSeek used thousands more of these chips, as well more advanced versions included in the extant restrictions, than the startup has disclosed. "It is imperative that we do not allow \[Chinese\] AI systems to gain significant market share in the United States, while acquiring the data of US users that only further enable the capabilities of the AI system," wrote Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) in a [joint statement](). Calling DeepSeek "deeply alarming," Krishnamoorthi added: "Export controls and AI innovation are not mutually exclusive, but two sides of the same coin." The free market at work, folks. ## Chip On Shoulder As an aside, we'd like to note that Nvidia may not be too happy about this talk. The company [created the H20]() to skirt restrictions that blocked the more powerful H800 for the Chinese market — itself created [to be sold in China]() after the US first banned its flagship H100 chip. Whatever its commitment to American AI hegemony, the sanctions will probably hurt its bottom line. Nonetheless, Nvidia has stated it's "ready to work" with the Trump administration on its approach to AI, per the *WSJ*, though it stresses it has found no indication that exports of its chips to Singapore are secretly being diverted to China, as the House committee members suggested. **More on AI:** *[AI Companies Tremble as They Realize It's Easy for Competitors to Steal Their Super-Expensive Work for Pennies on the Dollar]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()