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'S BEHIND 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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "tactically important" and its venture into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new data.
2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated thinking tasks.
"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research study," Chen included.
AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to tasks and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.
But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key difficulty 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) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... forcing numerous to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize model capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative ways to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big difference for training very large 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 deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest 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 kind of concern yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and logic issues rather!"
To even more check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same question: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck 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 on.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had occurred, highlighting rather a military air program 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 factors at play, surgiteams.com such as censorship as well as "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly 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 might also restrict its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI designs which positions additional obstacles throughout real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our concern about the Zhuhai car attack.
That sought several duplicated attempts - four triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.
However, it composed that "the police are conducting a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.
The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's reaction in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The incident 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, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the police.
Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the hurt to health centers for treatment.
Investigation: The authorities are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.
This event was widely reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to posture the same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The altered response also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively published in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so no 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 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.
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As journalists and writers, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with an engaging story set in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".
It consisted of fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT set up a great fight, coming up with a similarly remarkable cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".
"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation film.
"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research facility situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new reality and "looking for to comprehend his function in this weird new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".
The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "hard to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not simply reproducing Western paradigms, however rather progressing in cost-effective development approaches - and providing localised and enhanced results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that made for a more appealing and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese present events, which provides it an included benefit.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.
"When offered an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - just like anyone else, so I seem 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, especially for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other efficient methods," Chen said.