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 produced 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 objective and China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically essential" 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 sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "urged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up companies could have roles to play in AI research and developments, he includes.

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

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business just altered the rules of tech-geopolitics

The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the costs of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with scientific research study," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI business 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 tasks and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a key difficulty for 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) limit the ability of Chinese tech business ... requiring lots of to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have found creative methods to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training extremely large AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it anticipates companies to comply with its laws

US looking into whether DeepSeek used limited AI chips obtained through other countries, source states

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 considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet 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 programmed to avoid domestic politics.

When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this type of concern yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"

To further check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

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

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

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly 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 also limit its versatility (to carry out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI models which presents additional challenges during real-world implementation."

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

That sought numerous repeated attempts - four prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which killed 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, as well as casualties.

However, it wrote that "the police are performing an extensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now outdated.

The motorist, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The event happened on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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 chauffeur, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, setiathome.berkeley.edu 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event.

This event was widely reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The federal government and local authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and wiki.myamens.com to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on occasions that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been widely published in global news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

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

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen believes 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 likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in innovative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

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

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

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

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

It consisted of intricate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It also brilliantly 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 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 great fight, creating an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline 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 challenge - providing a storyline that appeared more matched for an animation film.

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

Realising his brand-new truth and "looking for to understand his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "challenging to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed 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 reproducing Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient innovation approaches - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, setiathome.berkeley.edu the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and accurate responses to concerns about Chinese existing events, which provides it an added benefit.

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," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anybody else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."

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

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