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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 start-up 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'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has 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 essential" and its foray into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed promises of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.

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The "focus on expense advantage" is an unique function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of using a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new information.

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models taking on innovative thinking tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key difficulty 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 capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative ways to enhance or use more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge distinction for training extremely large 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, wiki.myamens.com subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to steer clear of 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 math, coding, and logic problems instead!"

To further evaluate for precision 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 car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later.

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

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

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information may likewise restrict its versatility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI designs which poses additional difficulties during real-world implementation."

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

That sought multiple duplicated attempts - four triggers to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others injured, 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 conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous 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 essential details:

Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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 motorist, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), 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 police are carrying out a thorough investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The government and regional authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to present the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The transformed reaction likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective 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 slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".

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

Opinions, however, differ.

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

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

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As reporters and writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an interesting storyline embeded 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 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 fight 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 put up a good fight, creating a similarly dramatic cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths."

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - providing a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation film.

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

Realising his brand-new reality and "seeking to understand his purpose in this unusual new world", he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".

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

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "hard to make a definitive 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 underscores how Chinese AI models are not just replicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable innovation approaches - and providing 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 showed its creative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate reactions to concerns about Chinese present events, 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 downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When offered a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - much like anybody else, so I seem like that's a piece missing 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 utilizing it for other efficient methods," Chen said.