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/ Bozon)

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Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country 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 essential" and its venture into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated researcher 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 systemcheck-wiki.de revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 could also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models taking on sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen added.

AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable ways to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a crucial hurdle for wiki.rolandradio.net Chinese designers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

"US export controls (still) restrict the ability of Chinese tech business ... requiring many to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative ways to optimize or utilize more basic hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big distinction 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 web so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"

To even more test for accuracy and wiki.whenparked.com self-censorship, wavedream.wiki 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 only revealing the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had taken place in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

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

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact 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 limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI models which postures extra obstacles during real-world deployment."

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

That sought multiple repeated attempts - 4 prompts to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the cops are carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now obsoleted.

The chauffeur, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The incident took place 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 motorist, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the cops.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their families, and yewiki.org to guarantee a detailed investigation into the incident.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to position the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The altered response also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "emotionally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 used 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 provided a story that constructs gradually from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more substantial twist".

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

Opinions, however, vary.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly 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 film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an interesting storyline embeded 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 drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat 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 become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up a great battle, creating a similarly 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 guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - delivering a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation film.

"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research facility situated 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 weird new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, 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 "challenging to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable development techniques - and providing 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 showed its creative flair that made for a more appealing and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and factual reactions to questions about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an included benefit.

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

"DeepSeek is at a disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.

"When offered a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - simply like anybody else, so I seem 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, setiathome.berkeley.edu especially for Chinese users.

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