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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 generated 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 objective and China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically 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 accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs - the costs of utilizing a trained design to reason from new information.

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated reasoning jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to apply generative AI to jobs and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

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

"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... forcing numerous to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to enhance or use more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big distinction for training extremely large AI models."

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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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured to steer clear of 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 logic issues instead!"

To even more check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

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

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to innovative hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might also restrict its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which presents extra challenges during real-world release."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our concern about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.

That wanted multiple duplicated attempts - four prompts to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which killed 35 people and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, yewiki.org details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it composed that "the authorities are conducting an extensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The event happened on November 11, 2024, at around 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 old), was captured by the cops.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the injured to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out an extensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the incident.

This event was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to posture the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified response also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been widely released in international report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unanticipated 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 rich story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."

Opinions, however, differ.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can likewise 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 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, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It included intricate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It likewise brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up an excellent fight, developing a similarly significant cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the famous figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."

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

"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new truth and "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this weird brand-new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a mission, the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just duplicating Western paradigms, however rather developing in affordable development methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its innovative flair that made for a more appealing and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and pediascape.science accurate actions to questions about Chinese present occasions, which gives it an added benefit.

Experts also 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, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - much like anybody 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, particularly for Chinese users.

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