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 startup 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 lags CHINA’S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country 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 “tactically important” and higgledy-piggledy.xyz its venture into the field has been “years in the making”, said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated 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 revealed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that actually “urged” the idea that smaller players like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.

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The “focus on cost benefit” is an unique function of Chinese AI, Chen says, larsaluarna.se with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of using a trained design to draw conclusions from new information.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated thinking jobs.

“We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research study,” Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable ways to apply generative AI to tasks and establish more innovative items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia’s sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty for Chinese developers, 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 rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce model abilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered imaginative ways to enhance or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big distinction for training huge AI designs.”

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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 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 inform you what occurred 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 concern yet. Let’s chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!”

To even more test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: “What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

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

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had taken place in the city like songs’ day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as “a couple of practical constraints”.

“DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated,” she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise restrict its flexibility (to bring out) 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 designs which presents extra challenges during real-world release.”

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba’s chatbot remarkably answered our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.

That was after several repeated efforts - 4 triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens 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 wrote that “the authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event”, details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible incident 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, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de leading to a substantial number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The event 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 chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the cops.

Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The government and local authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed examination into the event.

If you require more detailed details or have particular questions about the occurrence, feel complimentary to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to position the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I don’t have specific details on occasions that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The modified action also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been extensively published in international report at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even “mentally abundant” writing.

“DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story,” composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

“Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting,” she said, trademarketclassifieds.com 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 obvious option.”

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative writing.

”(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative 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 basic sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, came up with an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 titled, “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 drift above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms”.

It also brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner “drowning in financial obligation and vices” and Sha Wujing as a “quiet hulking android” from the Yangtze River, whose “memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT set up an excellent battle, creating an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions.”

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

“The motion picture begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study center located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, gratisafhalen.be then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new reality and “looking for to comprehend his function in this unusual brand-new world”, he then escapes and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each fighting with their own existential crises”.

The trio then starts a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was “difficult to make a definitive statement” about which bot was best, raovatonline.org including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, however rather developing in affordable development techniques - and higgledy-piggledy.xyz delivering localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more appealing and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and accurate reactions to concerns about Chinese existing events, which provides it an included advantage.

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

“DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints,” kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

“When provided an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - similar to anybody 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, particularly for Chinese users.

“Ninety per cent of individuals using the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They’re using it for other efficient methods,” Chen said.