The founder of Chinese artificial-intelligence star DeepSeek has rejected proposals to make quick money from his programs, telling prospective investors that he wants to keep the science-project ethos that brought him global renown.

Overwhelmed by millions of users, DeepSeek’s chatbot has frequent service hiccups, and authorities around the world are restricting its use over data-security concerns. The U.S. is weighing measures including banning DeepSeek from government devices. Other internet companies are using the free DeepSeek code to drive their own businesses.

Yet founder Liang Wenfeng has told associates he isn’t in a hurry to get investment, fearing that outsiders would interfere in DeepSeek’s decisions, people familiar with the matter said. He is also cautious about government-linked investors, they said, because he believes the connection to Beijing could make it harder to win global adoption of DeepSeek’s AI models.