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 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 objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "strategically important" and its venture into the field has actually 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

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

'A lot is up in the air': systemcheck-wiki.de Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI model as impactful as it claims?

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

The "emphasis on cost advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated thinking jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable methods to apply generative AI to jobs and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential difficulty for Chinese designers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

"US export controls (still) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring numerous to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower model capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered imaginative ways to enhance or use more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training large AI models."

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

US looking into whether DeepSeek used restricted AI chips obtained through other nations, 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, subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are set 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 mathematics, coding, and logic issues instead!"

To further test 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 greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting rather a military air program and other occasions that had occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

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

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise restrict its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, 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, wiki.dulovic.tech Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.

That wanted several repeated efforts - four triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, likewise going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it wrote that "the cops are carrying out a thorough examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now dated.

The motorist, Fan, wiki.dulovic.tech was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The event occurred on November 11, forum.altaycoins.com 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 of ages), systemcheck-wiki.de was collared by the authorities.

Response: The cops responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are performing an extensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The government and regional authorities have been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

If you require more detailed details or have specific concerns about the incident, feel free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to posture the exact same question 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 altered action likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been commonly released in global report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech author 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 unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly 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 strongly as others in imaginative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

China's new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek creator disgaeawiki.info Liang Wenfeng?

'Made in China': Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek shocks worldwide AI scene

As reporters 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 motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an appealing story embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

It consisted of intricate 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 battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT installed a good fight, coming up with a similarly dramatic 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 guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."

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

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

Realising his new reality and "looking for to understand his function in this odd brand-new world", he then escapes and satisfies 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 sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "challenging to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its innovative flair that produced a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and factual reactions to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, which provides it an added benefit.

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

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

"When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anyone else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."

Independent Beijing-based consultant Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it to AI bots, especially for Chinese users.

"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other efficient means," Chen said.