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

China views AI as being "tactically essential" 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up 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 could have functions to play in AI research study and advancements, he includes.

'A lot is up in the air': Is DeepSeek's AI model as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business simply altered the rules of tech-geopolitics

The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinct 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 data.

2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical ways to apply generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle 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 many to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found creative ways to optimize or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training large AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects companies to adhere to its laws

US looking into whether DeepSeek utilized restricted AI chips obtained through other countries, source states

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

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured to avoid domestic politics.

When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this kind of question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and logic issues instead!"

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

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

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had occurred, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had actually 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 elements at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

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

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

That was after several duplicated efforts - 4 triggers to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots 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 authorities are carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The event happened 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, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the police.

Response: setiathome.berkeley.edu The cops reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The police are carrying out a thorough examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the event.

This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to provide support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.

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

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been commonly published in international news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more reflective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unanticipated 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 significant twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a great story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option."

Opinions, however, vary.

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

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

Related:

China's new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?

'Made in China': Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek jolts 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 basic sci-fi motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of elaborate 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 likewise remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up an excellent fight, developing an equally remarkable 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 common as ancient myths."

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

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

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

The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under 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, adding that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient development methods - and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced a more engaging and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

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

Experts also weighed in on their ideas 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 company Strategy Risks.

"When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing 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 percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other productive ways," Chen said.