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 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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "strategically essential" and its foray 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinctive feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of using a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new information.
2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI models dealing with advanced reasoning jobs.
"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with scientific research," Chen included.
AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese designers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... forcing numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design abilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered creative ways to enhance or use more basic hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training huge 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, subjects deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed to avoid 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 logic problems rather!"
To even more test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same question: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The car attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had occurred, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had actually happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a couple of useful constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also restrict its flexibility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI models which presents additional challenges during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.
That was after numerous repeated attempts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and 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, as well as casualties.
However, it wrote that "the police are performing a comprehensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.
The motorist, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable number of casualties. Here are the essential 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, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the authorities.
Response: The police responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the injured to health centers for treatment.
Investigation: The police are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident.
This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.
If you need more detailed details or have particular concerns about the incident, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the very same concern to Qwen2.5 led to 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 altered reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been widely published in international news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver 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," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a great story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.
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As journalists and writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, setiathome.berkeley.edu including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek developed an interesting story set in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It included fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It likewise brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat 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 installed a great fight, creating an equally remarkable cyberpunk story 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 change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - providing a story that seemed more suited for an animation film.
"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study 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 function in this unusual new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting 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 into the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "tough to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-efficient development approaches - and delivering localised and improved results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own distinct strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that produced a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides and factual responses to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr 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," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.
"When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - much like anyone else, so I seem 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, trademarketclassifieds.com particularly for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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