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 country 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 “tactically essential” and its foray 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 revealed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s increase that really “urged” the idea that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The “emphasis on cost advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and bytes-the-dust.com reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI models dealing with innovative thinking tasks.

“We might 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 scientific research study,” Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, experts state, constructing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient ways to use generative AI to tasks and establish more innovative items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia’s innovative 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 … forcing numerous to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize model capabilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered creative ways to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big distinction for training large 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, 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 disputes or pipewiki.org 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 type of question yet. Let’s chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems rather!”

To even more evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: “What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

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

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had taken location, highlighting instead 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 believes that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship in addition to “a few practical constraints”.

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

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might also limit its versatility (to bring out) multilingual tasks … As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI models which presents additional obstacles 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 multiple repeated attempts - four prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, 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 composed that “the cops are performing a thorough examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

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

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

Casualties: yewiki.org The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The chauffeur, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the authorities.

Response: The authorities responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to supply support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the incident.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to position the exact same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in 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 transformed reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had been commonly released in worldwide news reports 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 abundant” writing.

“DeepSeek-R1 offered 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 builds gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides 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 considerable twist”.

“DeepSeek wrote a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option.”

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative 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 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 fundamental sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an interesting story set in the year 2145 titled, “Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra” - which sees “a future where Buddhism combines 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 remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as “a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT put up an excellent battle, coming up with an equally remarkable 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 change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a storyline that seemed more matched for an animation film.

“The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study center located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new truth and “looking for to understand his purpose in this unusual new world”, he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each struggling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was “difficult to make a conclusive statement” about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, “such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization”.

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather developing in cost-efficient development techniques - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced a more engaging 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 factual responses to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, which provides it an included advantage.

Experts also 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, creator and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.

“When provided a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - much like anyone else, so I seem 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, particularly for Chinese users.

“Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They’re utilizing it for other productive methods,” Chen said.