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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 actually long been President Xi Jinping's objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically essential" and its venture into the field has 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 sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research study and setiathome.berkeley.edu advancements, he includes.

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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, forum.altaycoins.com with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new data.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI models taking on sophisticated thinking tasks.

"We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research study," 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 economical methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish more innovative products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty for Chinese developers, 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 many to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered creative methods to enhance or use more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge distinction for training extremely 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, topics considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 kind of question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and reasoning issues rather!"

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

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

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had actually happened in the city like songs' 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 along with "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also restrict its adaptability (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which positions additional difficulties during real-world release."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our question about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.

That was after numerous repeated attempts - four triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and setiathome.berkeley.edu 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, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the authorities are conducting an extensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the event", details which is now dated.

The motorist, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The incident happened on November 11, 2024, at around 19:48 PM.

Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.

Casualties: setiathome.berkeley.edu The attack led to 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the authorities.

Response: The cops reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the injured to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event.

This event was commonly reported in the media and yewiki.org triggered significant public concern. The government and regional authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.

If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the event, feel free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to position the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified action likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly published 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 provide structured and even "mentally rich" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative 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, characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It included sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float 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 combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up a good battle, creating a similarly remarkable cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching 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 - providing a story that seemed more fit for an animation film.

"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and "seeking to comprehend 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 embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each showed 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 affordable development methods - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and wavedream.wiki factual responses to questions about Chinese present events, which provides it an included 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 study firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - much like anyone else, so I seem 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, particularly for Chinese users.

"Ninety per cent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're utilizing it for other productive methods," Chen said.