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 startup 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 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 essential" and demo.qkseo.in its venture 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller like start-up firms might have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he adds.

'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese firm DeepSeek's AI model as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business simply changed the guidelines of tech-geopolitics

The "focus on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, garagesale.es with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of using a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new information.

2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling innovative thinking jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, surgiteams.com developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to tasks and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential difficulty for Chinese developers, 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 lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge distinction for training huge AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it anticipates business to comply with its laws

US checking out whether DeepSeek used limited AI chips obtained through other nations, 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 considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set 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 concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"

To even more evaluate for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The vehicle attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had occurred, highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had actually happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of practical constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly 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 carry out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which postures additional difficulties throughout real-world deployment."

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

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

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, 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 an extensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The occurrence occurred 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 chauffeur, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the cops.

Response: The cops reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The police are carrying out an extensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the event.

This occasion was commonly 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 guarantee a detailed investigation into the incident.

If you require more detailed details or have particular concerns about the event, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to position the same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified action likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a great story however lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen thinks 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 innovative 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 shocks international AI scene

As reporters and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an interesting storyline embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".

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

It likewise brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up a great fight, creating a similarly remarkable cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous 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 myths."

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

"The movie 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 reality and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this odd new world", he then escapes 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 sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "challenging to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in cost-effective innovation approaches - and providing localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more appealing and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, forum.altaycoins.com the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual responses to questions about Chinese existing occasions, which offers it an added advantage.

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

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

"When offered a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - simply like anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."

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

"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're using it for other productive means," Chen said.