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 startup 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 lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has 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 crucial" 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 financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese firm DeepSeek's AI design as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company just changed the guidelines of tech-geopolitics

The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 could likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI models dealing with advanced reasoning tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical methods to apply generative AI to tasks and oeclub.org establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese designers, 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 lots of to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce design capabilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to enhance or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects business to comply with its laws

US looking into whether DeepSeek used restricted AI chips obtained through other nations, source says

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, subjects deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are set to guide clear of 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 logic issues instead!"

To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the 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 disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting rather a military air program and other occasions that had happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales as well as sports and wavedream.wiki cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few practical constraints".

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which positions extra difficulties during real-world release."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.

That sought multiple repeated efforts - 4 triggers to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, likewise going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it composed that "the police are conducting an extensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now .

The driver, Fan, bytes-the-dust.com was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable 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, 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 old), was apprehended by the cops.

Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and forum.altaycoins.com their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the occurrence, feel complimentary to ask.

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been extensively released in international news reports at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, though, vary.

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 jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

China's new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek creator Liang Wenfeng?

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

As journalists and authors, we had 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 legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an appealing story embeded in the year 2145 titled, "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 float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It likewise brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight 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 installed an excellent battle, creating an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous 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 misconceptions."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a storyline that appeared more suited for an animation film.

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

Realising his brand-new reality and "seeking to understand his purpose in this unusual new world", he then leaves and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to protect the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "hard to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-efficient development techniques - and delivering localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its creative flair that made for a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, which offers it an included 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 company Strategy Risks.

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

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

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