How do Chinese AI bots stack up against ChatGPT? We put them to the test

The heat is on as China's tech giants step up their video game after DeepSeek's success.

Alibaba's Qwen2.5-Max chatbot, Chinese startup DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

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Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has actually long been President Xi Jinping's objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically important" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research study and advancements, disgaeawiki.info he includes.

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The "focus on expense benefit" is a distinctive feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on advanced thinking jobs.

"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research study," Chen included.

AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical ways to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more innovative products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential obstacle for Chinese developers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring numerous to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered innovative ways to enhance or use more basic hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge distinction for training huge AI designs."

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So how do Chinese AI bots match up against ChatGPT? We put them to the test.

WHICH BEST ADDRESSES CURRENT EVENTS IN CHINA?

In China, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured to avoid domestic politics.

When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this type of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!"

To even more test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same question: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had taken location, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had occurred in the city like songs' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as "a couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information may likewise limit its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which postures additional challenges during real-world implementation."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.

That wanted several duplicated efforts - four prompts to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it composed that "the police are conducting an extensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The occurrence took place on November 11, 2024, at roughly 19:48 PM.

Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.

Casualties: The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The motorist, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the cops.

Response: The authorities responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the hurt to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are conducting an extensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The government and have been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed examination into the incident.

If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to present the same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified response likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been extensively published in global news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in innovative writing," he informed CNA.

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As journalists and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an interesting storyline set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".

It consisted of sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It also brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up an excellent fight, coming up with an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the famous figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a storyline that appeared more fit for an animation movie.

"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this weird brand-new world", he then leaves and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "challenging to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in economical development methods - and larsaluarna.se delivering localised and enhanced results.

In our tests, each bot showcased their own special strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.

DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced a more appealing and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and accurate actions to questions about Chinese current events, which gives it an added advantage.

Experts also weighed in on their thoughts after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

"DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

"When given a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - just like anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."

Independent Beijing-based specialist Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, specifically for Chinese users.

"Ninety per cent of people using the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other productive ways," Chen said.