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How do Chinese AI bots stack up against ChatGPT? We put them to the test

The heat is on as 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'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 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 affiliated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from new information.

2025 could also see the emergence of more Chinese AI models tackling advanced thinking jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical methods to apply generative AI to tasks and establish more advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a crucial hurdle for Chinese designers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

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

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found creative ways to enhance or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training 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, topics considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it must come as no 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 configured 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 question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems rather!"

To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and engel-und-waisen.de ChatGPT the same concern: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had occurred, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had taken place in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship in addition to "a few practical constraints".

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI models which postures additional difficulties throughout real-world release."

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

That was after several repeated efforts - four triggers to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and gratisafhalen.be left dozens of others hurt, likewise 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 authorities are conducting a comprehensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now outdated.

The motorist, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The incident took place on November 11, 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.

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

Investigation: The authorities are carrying out an extensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the incident.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The federal government and local authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on events that took place 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 actually been widely released in global report at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that constructs slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen 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 rich story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a great story but did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative 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 imaginative 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 set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an engaging story set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

It included fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It likewise remarkably reimagined standard 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 "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up an excellent fight, creating a similarly significant cyberpunk story 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."

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

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

Realising his brand-new reality and "seeking to understand his function 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 embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-efficient innovation methods - and providing localised and enhanced 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 produced a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an added benefit.

Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas 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 firm Strategy Risks.

"When offered an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - similar to anybody 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, specifically for Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're using it for other productive methods," Chen said.