How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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 country into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping's goal and garagesale.es China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "tactically important" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher 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 showed promises of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study and advancements, he includes.
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The "emphasis on cost advantage" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to reason from new data.
2025 could also see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs taking on advanced thinking jobs.
"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and integrate them with scientific research study," Chen added.
AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical methods to use generative AI to tasks and develop more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese developers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce model abilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered imaginative ways to enhance or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge difference for training really big 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 need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to avoid domestic politics.
When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this kind of question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues instead!"
To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The automobile attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few useful constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might also restrict its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI models which poses extra obstacles during real-world deployment."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our concern about the Zhuhai car attack.
That sought multiple duplicated attempts - four prompts to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It eventually passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others injured, wiki.whenparked.com 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 wrote that "the authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.
The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response in full:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, hb9lc.org male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The event took place on November 11, 2024, at approximately 19:48 PM.
Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, higgledy-piggledy.xyz in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.
Casualties: The attack led to 35 deaths and 43 injuries.
Perpetrator: systemcheck-wiki.de The chauffeur, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the authorities.
Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The authorities are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.
This event was widely reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The federal government and local authorities have been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed examination into the incident.
If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the incident, feel totally free to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the same to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively published in worldwide 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 abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs 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, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story but did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, though, differ.
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, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.
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As journalists and authors, we needed 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, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with an engaging storyline embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges 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 in between quantum server farms".
It likewise remarkably reimagined traditional 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 "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT set up a good fight, developing a similarly significant cyberpunk storyline 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 change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a story that appeared more suited for larsaluarna.se an animation movie.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research center located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, wiki.lafabriquedelalogistique.fr then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new reality and "seeking to understand his function in this unusual 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 embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-effective development approaches - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual actions to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, which gives it an included advantage.
Experts likewise 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 firm Strategy Risks.
"When offered a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - simply like 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, especially for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other efficient means," Chen said.