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 created by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has actually 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 foray into the field has actually 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the concept that smaller players like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.

2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and integrate them with scientific research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and affordable ways to apply generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

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

"US export controls (still) limit the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring numerous to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model capabilities," she said.

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

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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, topics deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed to guide clear of domestic politics.

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

To even more check 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 cars and truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually occurred, highlighting rather a military air program and systemcheck-wiki.de other events that had actually happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship in addition to "a couple of practical constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which presents extra challenges during real-world deployment."

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

That was after numerous repeated efforts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and wakewiki.de time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it composed that "the authorities are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, wiki-tb-service.com a major and awful incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and gratisafhalen.be Time: The occurrence occurred 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, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the police.

Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are conducting a comprehensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the event.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused considerable public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the event.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to pose the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The altered action likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly released in international news reports at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."

Opinions, however, vary.

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

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

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

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

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

It likewise remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen battle 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 become waterlogged and fragmented".

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

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

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

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

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

The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, however rather progressing in affordable innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and accurate responses to questions about Chinese existing occasions, which offers it an added benefit.

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

"DeepSeek is at a disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored version - simply like anybody else, so I seem like that's a piece missing out on from it."

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

"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive methods," Chen said.