US Federal Register used Alibaba's Qwen search tool, removed Wednesday
Turns out, the US government's Federal Register website was using a search tool powered by Alibaba's Qwen model.
The tool was taken down on Wednesday around the same time social media posts appeared about it online.
This all happened while tensions between the US and China were already pretty high.
Experts cite public data, lawmakers concerned
Even though experts say there wasn't any immediate security risk (since Qwen only searched public info), some lawmakers aren't thrilled.
Senate Democrat Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed out that using Chinese tech could put US data at risk if it ever gets processed on Alibaba-controlled systems.
Open-weight models like Qwen are cheaper and customizable, but this incident has drawn attention to ongoing US debates over AI safety and safeguards.