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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 game after DeepSeek's success.

Alibaba's Qwen2.5-Max chatbot, Chinese start-up DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: hb9lc.org Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

This audio is produced by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping's objective and China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "strategically important" and its foray into the field has 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 accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of using a trained design to reason from new information.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs dealing with advanced reasoning tasks.

"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research," Chen added.

AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and surgiteams.com cost-effective ways to apply generative AI to tasks and establish advanced items 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) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring lots of to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered imaginative methods to optimize or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what occurred 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 mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems rather!"

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

The cars and truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had taken place in the city like singles' 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 couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also restrict its adaptability (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 challenges throughout real-world deployment."

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

That wanted several duplicated efforts - 4 prompts to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, setiathome.berkeley.edu details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it wrote that "the authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic event took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

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

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

Casualties: The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The motorist, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the cops.

Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the hurt to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The police are conducting a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused considerable public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the incident.

If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the event, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to pose the very 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 altered response also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been widely published in global news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek composed a great story however did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative 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 innovative writing," he told CNA.

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As journalists and writers, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

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

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

It likewise brilliantly reimagined conventional 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 "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up an excellent fight, coming up with an equally 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a story that appeared more suited for an animation film.

"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study facility located 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 strange 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 starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "tough to make a conclusive 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 models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in cost-effective development methods - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that produced a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and accurate responses to questions about Chinese present occasions, which gives it an included benefit.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

"When given 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 wiki.dulovic.tech Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other efficient ways," Chen said.