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'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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.


China views AI as being "tactically crucial" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", yewiki.org said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.


Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.


But it was DeepSeek's rise that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller players like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.


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


2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated thinking tasks.


"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research," Chen included.


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


Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish more advanced products beyond chatbots.


But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key 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 capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize design capabilities," she said.


"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative methods to optimize or use more basic hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big 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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.


Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"


To even more check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and hb9lc.org ChatGPT the same question: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"


The car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.


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


Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of factors 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 restricted access to advanced hardware which can impact how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.


"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may likewise restrict its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI designs which postures extra difficulties throughout real-world release."


When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.


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


It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others injured, 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 police are conducting a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.


The driver, Fan, was performed last month.


This is Qwen2.5's response completely:


Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event occurred in Zhuhai, bytes-the-dust.com China. According to numerous news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (__, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:


Date and Time: The incident took place on November 11, forum.pinoo.com.tr 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the authorities.


Response: The police responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to hospitals for treatment.


Investigation: The authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.


This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused considerable public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to supply assistance to the victims and their households, setiathome.berkeley.edu and to make sure a detailed investigation into the event.


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


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


The transformed action also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.


Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been extensively published 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 deliver structured and even "mentally rich" writing.


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


"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers 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 rich story with a more significant twist".


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


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 tasks, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.


Related:


China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?


'Made in China': Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek shocks worldwide AI scene


As reporters and authors, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.


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


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


It likewise remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".


ChatGPT set up an excellent fight, coming up with an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".


"This is a world where AI deities guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."


Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a story that appeared more matched for an animation movie.


"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study facility located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:


Realising his brand-new reality and "looking for to understand his function in this odd new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each struggling 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 under the incorrect hands.


SO WHICH IS BETTER?


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


Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient innovation methods - and providing localised and improved results.


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


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


Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and factual responses to concerns about Chinese current events, which offers it an added benefit.


Experts likewise 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 company Strategy Risks.


"When given a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - much like anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."


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