How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
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 startup 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 lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?
Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has actually 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 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed promises of real-world company applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.
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The "focus on cost advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new information.
2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling innovative thinking tasks.
"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research," Chen included.
AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, forum.pinoo.com.tr experts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable methods to use generative AI to tasks and wavedream.wiki develop advanced 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 business ... requiring numerous to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower model capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative methods to enhance or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big distinction for training really large 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no surprise that will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured to avoid domestic politics.
When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this type of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"
To even more evaluate for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, 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 at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only revealing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had occurred in the city like songs' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a few practical constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its versatility (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI designs which presents extra obstacles during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That was after multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, likewise going on to note 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 conducting a thorough examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.
The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in full:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The incident happened 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, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the cops.
Response: The police responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the hurt to medical facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are performing an extensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the incident.
This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and wiki.asexuality.org to make sure a detailed investigation into the incident.
If you need more detailed details or have particular concerns about the occurrence, feel free to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to present the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified action also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been commonly released in worldwide 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 provide structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative 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 informed CNA.
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As reporters and writers, we needed 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 classic Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with an appealing storyline set in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It consisted of fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It also brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub 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 good battle, developing an equally significant 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 guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - delivering a storyline that seemed more suited for an animation film.
"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research center located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new truth and "looking for to understand his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "difficult to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-efficient innovation techniques - and providing localised and improved results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced a more interesting and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, higgledy-piggledy.xyz the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, wiki.whenparked.com provides accurate and factual reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which provides it an added benefit.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When offered a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - much 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, especially for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're using it for other efficient ways," Chen said.