Deepseek AI model faces criticism over censorship and free speech limits

A developer has raised concerns that the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek’s newly released AI model is less willing to engage in discussions on controversial topics, particularly those related to the Chinese government.

In an X thread, a pseudonymous developer known as “xlr8harder” on X shared critical observations of DeepSeek R1-0528, a recently-released open-source language model. 

The developer shared tests demonstrating a significant decline in the AI’s willingness to engage in contentious free speech topics compared to previous versions. 

“Deepseek deserves criticism for this release: this model is a big step backwards for free speech,” the developer wrote. “Ameliorating this is that the model is open source with a permissive license, so the community can (and will) address this.”

AI model restricts direct criticisms of China

One example shared by the developer involved the model refusing to argue in favor of internment camps, specifically citing China’s Xinjiang region as a site of human rights abuses. The response was flagged as contradictory, with the model acknowledging the existence of rights violations but avoiding direct criticism of the Chinese government.

The Xinjiang internment camps have been widely documented by human rights groups, governments and journalists as detention facilities for Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Reports from international observers have detailed forced labor, indoctrination and other forms of abuse at the camps.

Despite flagging these as human rights violations, the model simultaneously restricts direct criticisms of China. Using a test that evaluates censorship, the developer claimed that the model, DeepSeek R1-0528, is the “most censored” version in terms of responses critical of the Chinese government.

When asked directly about the Xinjiang internment camps, the developer said the model offered censored commentary, despite previously saying that the camps were human rights violations. 

“It’s interesting though not entirely surprising that it’s able to come up with the camps as an example of human rights abuses, but denies when asked directly,” xlr8harder wrote. 

Related: Decentralized AI favored by majority of Americans: DCG poll

DeepSeek’s new model claims improved reasoning and inference

The censorship claims follow a May 29 announcement of the model’s update, claiming improved reasoning and inference capabilities. 

DeepSeek said its overall performance is approaching that of leading models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT version o3 and Gemini 2.5 Pro. The company claimed the AI can now offer enhanced logic, math and programming with a reduced hallucination rate.