China is reportedly keeping DeepSeek under close watch

China appears to think homegrown AI startup DeepSeek could become a notable tech success story for the country. 

After DeepSeek’s sudden rise to fame in January with the release of its open “reasoning” model, R1, the company is now operating under new, tighter government-influenced restrictions, according to The Information. Some of the company’s employees have been prevented from traveling abroad freely, and the Chinese government is now playing a role in screening potential investors, according to The Information. 

DeepSeek is enforcing the travel restrictions by having its parent company, quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer, hold onto certain staff’s passports. 

The developments come a few weeks after it was reported that the Chinese government was instructing AI researchers and entrepreneurs to avoid traveling to the U.S., fearing the loss of trade secrets.

TechCrunch has reached out to DeepSeek for comment.