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.
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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "strategically important" and its venture into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research study and advancements, he adds.
'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI design as impactful as it claims?
Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business just altered the rules of tech-geopolitics
The "emphasis on cost advantage" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to reason from brand-new information.
2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models tackling advanced thinking jobs.
"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research," Chen added.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient ways to use generative AI to jobs and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.
But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese designers, 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 ... forcing numerous to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize model capabilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered innovative methods to enhance or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI designs."
DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it anticipates business to abide by its laws
US looking into whether DeepSeek utilized restricted AI chips obtained through other countries, source says
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 sensitive by the state are censored on the internet 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 suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems instead!"
To even more evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually occurred, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few useful constraints".
"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to innovative hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might also limit its versatility (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which poses extra obstacles during real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.
That wanted numerous repeated attempts - 4 prompts to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others injured, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and systemcheck-wiki.de age, in addition to casualties.
However, it composed that "the police are carrying out a thorough examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.
The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, wiki.dulovic.tech a major and terrible incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, demo.qkseo.in 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at approximately 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 chauffeur, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the authorities.
Response: The cops reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are conducting a thorough examination into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence.
This event was commonly reported in the media and caused considerable public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their families, wavedream.wiki and larsaluarna.se to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.
If you require more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to posture the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified action also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been widely published in worldwide report at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds gradually 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 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek composed a great story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, though, 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 tasks, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.
Related:
China's new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?
'Made in China': Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek jolts worldwide AI scene
As reporters and writers, we needed 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, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek created 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 consisted of elaborate 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 standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT put up a good battle, creating 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 guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - delivering a story that appeared more suited for an animation movie.
"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research center located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new truth and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "tough to make a conclusive 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 underscores how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather evolving in cost-effective development techniques - and delivering localised and improved results.
In our tests, wiki.asexuality.org each bot showcased their own distinct strengths, engel-und-waisen.de which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its imaginative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and factual actions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an added advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing 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 provided a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - simply like anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."
Independent Beijing-based specialist 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 attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.
1
How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
rochelloxenham edited this page 3 months ago