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 created 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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "strategically essential" and its foray into the field has 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 removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.

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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of using a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI models dealing with advanced reasoning jobs.

"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods 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 companies are moving quickly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective ways to apply generative AI to tasks and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential hurdle 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 companies ... requiring many to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce design abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found imaginative methods to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge distinction 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, topics deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it should come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured 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 logic issues instead!"

To further check for accuracy and self-censorship, pipewiki.org we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The cars and truck 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 point out that an attack had happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had actually happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

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

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to advanced hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its versatility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which positions additional difficulties throughout real-world deployment."

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

That was after multiple duplicated efforts - four triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which killed 35 people and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it composed that "the cops are carrying out a thorough examination 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 in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and wiki.myamens.com Time: The incident took place on November 11, 2024, at around 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 motorist, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the police.

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

Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The government and regional authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to pose the same question to Qwen2.5 led to the back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively released in worldwide report 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 rich" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological transitions 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 urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek wrote an excellent story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly 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 highly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.

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As reporters 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, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an engaging story 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 float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled 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 club 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 put up a good battle, creating an equally significant cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching 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 myths."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a storyline that appeared more matched for an animation film.

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

Realising his new reality and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this odd new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

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

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its creative flair that made for gratisafhalen.be a more engaging and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual responses to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which offers it an included advantage.

Experts also weighed in on their thoughts after utilizing DeepSeek and archmageriseswiki.com 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 company Strategy Risks.

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

Independent Beijing-based expert 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 sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient means," Chen said.