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 video 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)

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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 "strategically important" and its venture into the field has 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research and developments, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen says, setiathome.berkeley.edu with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of utilizing a to reason from new data.

2025 could also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient ways to use generative AI to jobs and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential 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 ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring many to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found innovative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference for training very large AI models."

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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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed to guide 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems rather!"

To even more check 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 initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had actually happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

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

"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to advanced hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might also restrict its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI models which poses additional obstacles during real-world deployment."

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

That sought multiple repeated attempts - 4 prompts to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on 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 authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a car 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 around 19:48 PM.

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

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

Perpetrator: wiki.myamens.com The driver, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the hurt to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event.

This event was commonly reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.

If you need more detailed details or have particular concerns about the incident, feel totally free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to pose the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally abundant" 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 constructs gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist".

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

Opinions, however, vary.

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, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in innovative writing," he told CNA.

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As journalists and authors, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

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

It included 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 brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up a good fight, coming up with a similarly significant cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous figures of Journey to the West".

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

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a storyline that appeared more fit for an animation movie.

"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research facility situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new truth and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this unusual brand-new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "tough to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable development approaches - and providing localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot showed its creative flair that made for a more interesting and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and accurate actions to questions about Chinese existing events, which gives it an added benefit.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

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

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

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

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