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 country 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 “tactically crucial” and its foray 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 accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world company applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that truly “encouraged” the concept that smaller players like start-up firms might have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The “focus on expense advantage” is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of using a trained design to reason from new data.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models dealing with advanced thinking tasks.

“We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research,” Chen added.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, experts state, developing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient ways to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia’s sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial 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) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies … requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower design capabilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered innovative methods to optimize or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference 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 need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend 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 type of question yet. Let’s chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems rather!”

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

The cars and truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had actually happened in the city like singles’ day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship as well as “a few useful constraints”.

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

“Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may also restrict its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual jobs … As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been tested as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI models which postures additional obstacles throughout real-world release.”

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

That was after multiple repeated attempts - four prompts to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, 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 a comprehensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the incident”, details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, higgledy-piggledy.xyz Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s reaction in full:

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

Date and Time: The occurrence occurred on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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.dulovic.tech The chauffeur, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de 62 years old), was apprehended by the police.

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

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

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.

If you need more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to present the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I don’t have specific details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The altered reaction also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been commonly released in global news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even “emotionally abundant” writing.

“DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more reflective 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 develops slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting,” she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually “crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist”.

“DeepSeek composed an excellent story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice.”

Opinions, though, vary.

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

”(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in innovative writing,” he informed CNA.

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As reporters and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, wiki.lafabriquedelalogistique.fr including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of elaborate 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 also remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as “a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT installed a great battle, creating an equally significant 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a storyline that seemed more matched for an animation movie.

“The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research facility located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new truth and “seeking to understand his purpose in this strange new world”, he then leaves and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each battling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred “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, including that each showed its own strengths in different 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 progressing in affordable innovation techniques - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its creative flair that made for a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and garagesale.es ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and factual actions to questions about Chinese existing occasions, which provides it an added benefit.

Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas after using 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 study firm Strategy Risks.

“When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - just like anybody else, so I feel like that’s a piece missing from it.”

Independent Beijing-based consultant 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 using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They’re utilizing it for other efficient ways,” Chen said.