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)

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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 goal and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically important" and its venture into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated 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 showed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "urged" the idea that smaller players like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.

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The "emphasis on cost advantage" is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new data.

2025 could likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to tasks and bytes-the-dust.com develop advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese developers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor 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 alternatives which can slow training and lower design abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative methods to optimize or use more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge distinction for training large AI models."

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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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems rather!"

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

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

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had taken place, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a few practical constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may also limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI designs which presents extra difficulties throughout real-world deployment."

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

That wanted numerous duplicated attempts - four triggers to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left dozens of others hurt, likewise going on to note 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 carrying out an extensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a significant number of casualties. Here are the key details:

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

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

Casualties: 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 police.

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

Investigation: The cops are performing an extensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This event was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

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

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been commonly published 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 deliver structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a great story but lacked stress 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 creative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.

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

True to form, DeepSeek created an engaging 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 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 remarkably reimagined Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up a great battle, coming up with a similarly significant 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 guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."

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

"The motion picture begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern 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 gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".

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

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "hard to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-efficient development methods - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, larsaluarna.se the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and factual reactions to questions about Chinese current 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," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, creator archmageriseswiki.com and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - similar to 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, specifically for Chinese users.

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