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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 start-up DeepSeek and genbecle.com OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: 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 nation 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 foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research study and advancements, he adds.

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The "focus on expense advantage" is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of using a trained design to reason from brand-new information.

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs taking on innovative thinking tasks.

"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to apply generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential 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 options which can slow training and reduce model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative ways to optimize or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big difference for training huge 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes 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 question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and logic issues instead!"

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

The vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as "a few practical constraints".

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

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

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

That was after several repeated efforts - four prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it composed that "the authorities are performing a comprehensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a man named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle 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 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 driver, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the police.

Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are conducting an extensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the incident.

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

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

The transformed reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been extensively released in international report at the time of the accident - so not a 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 transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity 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, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek composed an excellent story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to .

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed 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 fundamental sci-fi movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created 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 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 remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in financial obligation 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 good battle, developing a similarly remarkable cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous 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 obstacle - delivering a story that seemed more fit for an animation film.

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

Realising his brand-new reality and "looking for to understand his purpose in this odd brand-new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, however rather evolving in economical development approaches - and delivering localised and improved results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and bytes-the-dust.com accurate actions to concerns about Chinese existing events, which provides it an included benefit.

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

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

"When provided an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - simply like anybody else, so I feel 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, particularly for Chinese users.

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