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 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 lags 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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "strategically 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 sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.
2025 could also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models dealing with sophisticated thinking jobs.
"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their designs 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 state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable ways to apply generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a key 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) limit the ability of Chinese tech business ... requiring many to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered creative ways to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big distinction for training 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, topics considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set 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 math, coding, and reasoning issues rather!"
To even more check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other occasions that had actually happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few useful constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may also restrict its versatility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI designs which postures additional difficulties during real-world deployment."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our question about the Zhuhai car attack.
That sought numerous repeated efforts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately relayed details about the attack which 35 people and higgledy-piggledy.xyz left dozens of others injured, 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 wrote that "the authorities are conducting a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.
The driver, Fan, was performed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The incident happened on November 11, 2024, at approximately 19:48 PM.
Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, gratisafhalen.be in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.
Casualties: The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.
Perpetrator: The motorist, wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the police.
Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the hurt to medical facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are conducting an extensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the incident.
This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The federal government and local authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, pipewiki.org and to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.
If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the incident, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to present the very same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The altered reaction likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been extensively released in international news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech author links.gtanet.com.br 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 vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a great story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative 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 innovative writing," he told CNA.
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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 fundamental sci-fi film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.
True to form, higgledy-piggledy.xyz DeepSeek came up with an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges 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 also remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club 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 a great fight, creating an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline which similarly 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - providing a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation movie.
"The film starts 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 "seeking to understand his purpose in this strange new world", he then escapes and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each struggling with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "hard to make a conclusive 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 just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather developing in cost-efficient development methods - and providing localised and improved results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its innovative flair that produced a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and factual reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which provides it an added advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their thoughts after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.
"When offered a choice, Chinese users want 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, specifically for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other efficient methods," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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