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)

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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 "strategically essential" 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 sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of using a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.

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

"We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical ways to apply generative AI to jobs and develop more advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, oeclub.org access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese developers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

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

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative methods to enhance or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference 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, subjects deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 kind of question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"

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

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

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

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of useful constraints".

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise limit its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which postures additional obstacles throughout real-world implementation."

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

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

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which killed 35 people and left dozens of others injured, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it wrote that "the police are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile 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 took place on November 11, 2024, at around 19:48 PM.

Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the District of Zhuhai.

Casualties: The attack led to 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The chauffeur, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the authorities.

Response: The police responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are conducting a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident.

This event was commonly reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

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

The altered response likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively released in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

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

Opinions, though, vary.

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 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 needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

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

ChatGPT put up a great battle, developing an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the legendary 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 - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation movie.

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

Realising his brand-new truth and "seeking to comprehend his function in this odd new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather progressing in economical development 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 movie plot showed its innovative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and accurate reactions to questions about Chinese current events, which offers it an added advantage.

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

"DeepSeek is at a disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

"When given a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anyone else, so I feel 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, specifically for Chinese users.

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