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 game after DeepSeek's success.

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

This audio is produced by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping's goal and China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically crucial" and its venture 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 accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that actually "urged" the concept that smaller players like start-up firms might have functions to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The "focus on expense advantage" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from brand-new data.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models taking on innovative thinking tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective ways to use generative AI to jobs and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.

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

"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative ways to enhance or use more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge distinction for training very large AI models."

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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, surgiteams.com topics deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to stay away from 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 math, coding, and logic problems instead!"

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

The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had actually occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has actually limited access to advanced hardware which can impact how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

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

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our question about the Zhuhai car attack.

That was after multiple duplicated efforts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

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

However, it wrote that "the cops are performing a thorough examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a man named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The incident happened on November 11, 2024, at approximately 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was apprehended by the police.

Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused significant . The government and regional authorities have been working to provide support to the victims and their families, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

If you need more detailed details or have specific questions about the incident, feel totally free to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the very same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The transformed reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been commonly released in global report at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more significant twist".

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

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.

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

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

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

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

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

ChatGPT set up an excellent battle, coming up with an equally dramatic 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation movie.

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

Realising his new truth and "seeking to understand his function in this odd new world", he then leaves and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to protect the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "challenging to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

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

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its imaginative flair that produced a more appealing and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and factual reactions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an included advantage.

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

"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, archmageriseswiki.com founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."

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

"Ninety percent of people utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're utilizing it for other efficient methods," Chen said.