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 generated by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT lags 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 "strategically crucial" and its venture into the field has actually 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is an unique function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.
2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models dealing with innovative reasoning jobs.
"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways 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 quickly, larsaluarna.se experts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical methods to apply generative AI to tasks and establish more innovative products beyond chatbots.
But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential obstacle for Chinese developers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce model abilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered innovative ways to optimize or use more basic hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI designs."
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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, systemcheck-wiki.de subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest 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 kind of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues rather!"
To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had taken place, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to advanced hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might also restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI designs which poses additional difficulties during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That wanted multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.
However, it composed that "the police are carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident", which is now obsoleted.
The motorist, Fan, was performed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in 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 resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.
Perpetrator: The chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.
Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event.
This occasion was widely reported in the media and triggered significant public concern. The federal government and yewiki.org regional authorities have been working to offer support to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the incident.
If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to posture the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to 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 transformed response likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had been widely released in global news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist".
"DeepSeek composed an excellent story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, though, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.
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As journalists 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 movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek created an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It consisted of intricate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT set up a good battle, coming up with a similarly dramatic 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 rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a story that seemed more fit for an animation film.
"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study center located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new reality and "looking for to understand his purpose in this weird brand-new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "difficult to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, but rather progressing in affordable innovation techniques - and providing localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and factual responses to questions about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an added advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.
"When given a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - similar to 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, specifically for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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