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)

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has 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 venture into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business just changed the rules of tech-geopolitics

The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, higgledy-piggledy.xyz Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of utilizing a trained design to reason from new information.

2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs dealing with sophisticated thinking jobs.

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

AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and wavedream.wiki affordable methods to use generative AI to jobs and develop more innovative items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese developers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

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

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to optimize or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training very large AI models."

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So how do Chinese AI bots compare 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 should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured to stay away from domestic politics.

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

To further check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting rather a military air program and other events that had happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

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

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

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might also limit its flexibility (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which postures additional difficulties throughout real-world deployment."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our concern about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.

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

It eventually passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it wrote that "the authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, setiathome.berkeley.edu male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 19:48 PM.

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

Casualties: The attack led to 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the cops.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the hurt to hospitals for wiki.lafabriquedelalogistique.fr treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident.

This event was widely reported in the media and triggered considerable public issue. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the incident.

If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The altered response likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been extensively released in worldwide report 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 "emotionally rich" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that constructs slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a great story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."

Opinions, though, vary.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

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As reporters and authors, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

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

It also remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up an excellent battle, developing an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the legendary figures of Journey to the West".

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

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

"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new truth and "seeking to understand his purpose in this weird new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "tough to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in cost-efficient development methods - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot showed its innovative flair that made for a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and accurate reactions to questions about Chinese existing events, which provides it an included benefit.

Experts likewise in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

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

"When offered an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - simply like anybody else, so I feel 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, particularly for Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're using it for other efficient means," Chen said.