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)

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Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT lags 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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "strategically essential" and its venture into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated scientist 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 pledges of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies could have roles to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of using a trained model to reason from brand-new information.

2025 could likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced thinking jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential obstacle 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) restrict the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring many to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative ways to enhance or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge distinction for training extremely big AI designs."

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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, topics considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed to stay away from 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 reasoning problems rather!"

To further evaluate 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 gratisafhalen.be truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had taken place, highlighting rather a military air program and other events that had happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and wiki.whenparked.com cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which postures additional challenges throughout real-world deployment."

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

That wanted multiple repeated efforts - four prompts to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list 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 investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The event 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: higgledy-piggledy.xyz The driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.

Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence.

This event was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the incident.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to posture the same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The transformed reaction also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been commonly released in worldwide report at the time of the mishap - so no 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 reflective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided 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 vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "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 apparent option."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, but 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 had 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 impressive, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of sophisticated 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 stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in financial obligation 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 an excellent battle, developing a similarly remarkable cyberpunk storyline 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 obstacle - providing a storyline that appeared more fit for an animation movie.

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

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

The trio then starts a mission, browsing 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 "tough to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just replicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable innovation methods - 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 motion picture plot demonstrated its creative flair that made for a more interesting and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and factual actions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an included benefit.

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

"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing out on 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 percent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're using it for other productive ways," Chen said.