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 startup DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

This audio is created by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation 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 crucial" and its venture into the field has actually 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "urged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research and advancements, he adds.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from brand-new information.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced thinking tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to apply generative AI to jobs and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty 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) limit the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce model abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found imaginative ways to enhance or utilize more basic hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training large 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what occurred 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 type of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems instead!"

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

The vehicle attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements 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 limited access to advanced hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise restrict its versatility (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI models which positions additional challenges throughout real-world release."

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

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

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it composed that "the cops are carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible incident took place in Zhuhai, wiki.whenparked.com China. According to numerous news sources, setiathome.berkeley.edu a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial number of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The event 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the authorities.

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

Investigation: The police are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the incident.

This event was widely reported in the media and public concern. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the occurrence.

If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the event, feel complimentary to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to present 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 occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs gradually from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option."

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen believes 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 also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.

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As reporters and writers, setiathome.berkeley.edu 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 set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an appealing story 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 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 an excellent battle, developing a similarly dramatic cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous 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 matched for an animation film.

"The movie starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and "looking for to understand his function in this strange brand-new world", he then escapes and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "difficult to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, including 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 replicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in cost-effective development approaches - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.

In our tests, each bot showcased their own special 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, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate responses to questions about Chinese present events, which gives it an added benefit.

Experts also 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, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When given a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - just like anybody else, so I seem like that's a piece missing 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 percent of people using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're using it for other productive methods," Chen said.