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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 startup DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: setiathome.berkeley.edu Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND AI BOOM?

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

China views AI as being "strategically essential" and its venture 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research and developments, he includes.

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The "emphasis on cost advantage" is an unique function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new information.

2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced reasoning jobs.

"We could see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic 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 companies are moving rapidly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and wiki.eqoarevival.com cost-effective methods to use generative AI to jobs and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a key hurdle 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 capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring numerous to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found imaginative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge difference for training really 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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it should 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 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 concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems rather!"

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

The car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later on.

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

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

"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might likewise restrict its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which presents extra obstacles during real-world deployment."

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

That sought multiple duplicated efforts - four prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and left dozens of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, hb9lc.org it wrote that "the authorities are performing an extensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major wakewiki.de and awful event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The occurrence took place on November 11, 2024, at approximately 19:48 PM.

Location: wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.

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

Perpetrator: The driver, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the authorities.

Response: The cops responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the event.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to position the very 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 transformed action likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been widely released in worldwide report at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually 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 psychological transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

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

"DeepSeek wrote a great story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option."

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform 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 highly as others in imaginative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

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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 fundamental sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, 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 between quantum server farms".

It likewise brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen 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 installed an excellent battle, developing an equally significant 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 guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."

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

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

Realising his new reality and "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this weird brand-new world", he then leaves and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on 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 statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, however rather developing in cost-effective innovation methods - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese existing events, which provides it an added benefit.

Experts also weighed in on their thoughts 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, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anybody else, so I seem 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, specifically for Chinese users.

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