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 created by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?
Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has 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 "tactically 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up companies could have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.
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The "emphasis on cost advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.
2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling innovative reasoning jobs.
"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen included.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient ways to use generative AI to tasks and develop more advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a key difficulty for Chinese designers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease model capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found imaginative ways to optimize or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training extremely large 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 considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it should come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured to guide clear of 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 logic problems rather!"
To further test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting rather a military air program and other occasions that had taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship as well as "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to advanced hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information might likewise limit its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which positions additional difficulties throughout real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.
That wanted multiple duplicated attempts - four prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and setiathome.berkeley.edu time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.
However, it wrote that "the police are conducting a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now outdated.
The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's reaction in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The event occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 19:48 PM.
Location: links.gtanet.com.br 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 quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the injured to medical facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are conducting an extensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident.
This event was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the event, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified reaction likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been extensively published in global news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops gradually from interest 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, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a great story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, though, vary.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.
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As reporters and authors, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek developed an story set 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 high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".
It also brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT put up a great fight, coming up with a similarly remarkable cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".
"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a storyline that seemed more matched for an animation film.
"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study facility situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new truth and "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this weird new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "hard to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-effective innovation methods - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own distinct strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its imaginative flair that made for a more engaging 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 accurate responses to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an included advantage.
Experts also 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, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."
Independent Beijing-based expert Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, pipewiki.org particularly for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other productive ways," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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