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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 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 lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has actually 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 "strategically crucial" 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, wiki.asexuality.org he adds.

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

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on innovative thinking jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable ways to apply generative AI to jobs and establish more innovative items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative 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) limit the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease model abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to enhance or use more basic hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training very big AI designs."

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

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 mathematics, coding, and logic problems rather!"

To even more evaluate 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 vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only 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 happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

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

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to innovative hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise limit its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI models which presents additional challenges during real-world deployment."

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

That was after numerous duplicated attempts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the authorities are carrying out a thorough investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence took place in Zhuhai, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr China. According to numerous news sources, engel-und-waisen.de a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable number of casualties. Here are the key details:

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

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

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

Perpetrator: The chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the cops.

Response: The police responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are performing a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The government and local 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 require more detailed details or have particular questions about the incident, feel free to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to position the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified response likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly published in global news reports 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 "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective 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 builds slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unexpected 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, emotionally rich story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek wrote an excellent story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.

Related:

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As reporters and writers, 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 set 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 interesting storyline embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

It included sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It also brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up an excellent battle, creating an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the legendary figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a story that seemed more suited for an animation film.

"The movie starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research center situated 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 function in this weird new world", systemcheck-wiki.de he then leaves and fulfills 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 sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "difficult to make a definitive declaration" 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 underscores how Chinese AI models are not simply replicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable innovation methods - and delivering localised and improved results.

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

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

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

Experts likewise weighed in on their thoughts after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

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

"When given a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - similar to anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing from it."

specialist Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, specifically for Chinese users.

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