News aggregator

Emma Schaible/Fourth Estate

BY BARRETT BALZER, NEWS EDITOR AND IAN VLAHOS, STAFF WRITER

On Feb. 13, Mason students and faculty received an email from Information Technology Services detailing an executive order by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin banning the use of DeepSeek AI on university-owned devices and networks. A rising AI platform, Deepseek AI, is said to be a better version of ChatGPT but has raised concerns about data protection and privacy. 

Executive Order 46, signed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and attested by Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Gee on Feb. 11, details the ban, stating it “raises significant security and privacy concerns that call for similar restrictions on Commonwealth of Virginia devices.”

In accordance with the executive order, Mason has forbidden the use of DeepSeek AI, preventing any person on campus wifi, with a campus-issued device from accessing the AI platform. The exceptions included off-campus use with personal devices, or for certain employees for law enforcement-related purposes, as said in the email. 

According to a report by the Associated Press, the users’ data is stored within the People’s Republic of China. Feroot Security, a Canadian security company, first found the potential data leak. The Associated Press stated that Feroot Security did not observe data being transferred over to China. 

Concerns were raised due to information found about user data being sent to China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company, according to the Associated Press. China Mobile is barred from operating in the United States. 

Chief AI Officer and Associate Dean for AI Innovation at Mason Amarda Shehu, when asked about her thoughts on the ban, said, “It is difficult to determine what a model is capable of doing. One side of the coin allows researchers to figure out what it does. The other side is not quite sure what the mode is capable of or what you might expose.” 

Alex Tabarrok, an economics professor and chair at Mason’s Mercatus Center, said that the national security concerns are “unproven” and “probably overblown” but stressed the need to be mindful of the role of AI in future conflicts. 

In February, DeepSeek AI had amassed 61.81 million users, according to Backlinko, making it the fourth most popular AI app to date. It was said that DeepSeek AI was the rival to ChatGPT.

Explained by Newsweek, “DeepSeek-R1 claims to rival OpenAI’s model in reasoning and mathematical problem-solving. The platform’s ability to generate Python code more effectively than ChatGPT has been a highlight in discussions among tech enthusiasts.”

Amarda Seshu had other ideas when asked if DeepSeek would become the new ChatGPT. “Whenever there is a new model out, there is the novelty effect, folks want to try it out.” Later stating, “It is not the best performer, a little bit better one on a few tasks, overall, it was acceptable but not necessarily the replacer of ChatGPT.

The Fourth Estate has reached out to Governor Youngkin for comments about the ban but has not received a response.

Declan W Rees/Fourth Estate

BY DECLAN W REES, STAFF WRITER

On April 9, the Student Government Presidential Debate was officially underway when the four tickets took to their podiums. The election offers students the opportunity to cast their ballot in favor of the candidate and platform that best aligns with their interests and values. One position unified students: prioritizing engagement with the larger student body and creating better relationships with Registered Student Organizations (RSO’s).

The candidates running for President and Vice President consisted of Ilia Sheikholeslami – Charlotte Bell, Jae Boyd – Max Applbaum, Evelyn Johnston – Zach Lincoln and Isaiah Grays – Jonathan Dubois.

The Vice Presidential debate started after opening statements, though both Applbaum and Lincoln were absent, their running mates—instead—took the podium. The candidates were asked by a panel, composed of members from the Student Governments Elections and Disputes Commission, on how their role would work in conjunction with the undergraduate student president.

Candidate Charlotte Bell emphasized the importance of working alongside her running mate by “holding weekly meetings [so that we can be] united.”

Presidential candidate Jae Boyd followed up by highlighting that she and Applbaum “have an established relationship when it comes to working together.” Boyd added, “We want to do weekly updates on social media about what we are both doing because this is a combined effort.”

Johnston, on behalf of Lincoln, advocated on his abilities as someone with experience in local government and as someone she has worked with before.

Dubois ended the first round of questions by stating his intent to “act as a devil’s advocate” to the president to ensure that they could offer the best service to the student body.

A focal point of the debate was to address the disconnect between the student body and the Student Government. The vice presidential candidates spoke on their positions to attract commuters to campus activities, as the on-campus population totals around 21% of the undergraduate student body.

The Sheikholeslami-Bell ticket pointed out that in an effort to increase commuter student involvement in campus life, it could be beneficial to create “first year tool kits.” These tool kits would then be handed out at orientation and outline resources and opportunities available on campus.

Both the Johnston-Lincoln and the Grays–Dubois tickets similarly addressed the lack of utility and faultiness that Mason 360 has experienced as a community engagement resource and intended to push initiatives to update the app.

Jae Boyd pushed further with intentions to connect with incoming first years over the summer, acknowledging that “[many]commuters are freshmen.” 

Once the presidential candidates took the stage, they spoke on their top priorities if elected as the next student body president. 

Sheikholeslami proposed the creation of a disabilities resource center on campus, stating that though the Office of Disability Services provides accommodations, there should be a student communal space.  

Johnston spoke on issues regarding campus facilities, such as, slow elevators, inconsistent Wi-Fi connections, and black mold in campus housing.

Grays emphasized that his top priority would be internal student government accountability, as “the reality is it’s disorganized.” Grays added, “We’re going to be on our 46th president and the issues we’re campaigning on are issues that have been here for a while.”

Jae Boyd highlighted her background as the President of the Women in Law Association and stressed her intent to work alongside other RSO’s as president. “Changing the culture,” Boyd said, is her utmost focus. “If the culture of student government is not welcoming, then we can’t [all] work together.” 

Voting begins on Monday, April 14 at midnight and closes Friday, April 18 at 11:59 p.m. To vote, visit Student Government or via the form here.