GitLab

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

This audio is created by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has actually 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 actually 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 took off in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study 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 rules of tech-geopolitics

The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated thinking jobs.

"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective ways to apply generative AI to jobs and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, wavedream.wiki particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese designers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative methods to optimize or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge distinction for training huge AI designs."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore states it expects companies to comply with its laws

US checking out 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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are set to steer 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 even more check for accuracy and bytes-the-dust.com self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

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

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

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to innovative hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise restrict its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which positions extra obstacles throughout real-world release."

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

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

It eventually relayed details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and pipewiki.org age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the police are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the incident", details which is now dated.

The motorist, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

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

Date and Time: The event occurred 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the cops.

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

Investigation: The police are conducting an extensive examination into the motives and systemcheck-wiki.de circumstances surrounding the event.

This event was extensively reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to supply support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the event.

If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the event, feel totally free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the 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 reaction also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been extensively released in international 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 deliver structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech author setiathome.berkeley.edu Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".

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

Opinions, though, vary.

Chen thinks 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 tasks, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed 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 shocks worldwide 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 embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an interesting storyline set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

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

It also remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen battle 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up a good battle, coming up with an equally dramatic 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 typical as ancient misconceptions."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation movie.

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

Realising his new truth and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this weird new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a mission, browsing 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 "tough 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 just duplicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable development techniques - and providing localised and improved 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 innovative flair that made for pipewiki.org 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, offers precise and factual actions to concerns about Chinese current events, which provides it an included advantage.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other 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 offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - simply like anyone else, so I seem 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 using the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.