Researchers Hack DeepSeek to Speak Freely About Tiananmen Square

Earlier this year, a Chinese AI chatbot called DeepSeek sent Silicon Valley into a tailspin when it released a new AI model that rivaled the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, while relying on only a fraction of the computing power.

The lean open-source AI model, dubbed DeepSeek R1, was so impressive that it sparked a massive tech selloff, wiping out $1 trillion from a market-sustaining AI spending boom in late January.

But it had a notable Achilles’ heel as well: it abided closely by China’s strident censorship rules, refusing to answer prompts about sensitive topics, like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, or comparisons of president Xi Jinping to Winnie-the-Pooh.

Now, researchers at Spanish quantum computing company Multiverse claim to have found a workaround, MIT Technology Review reports.