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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 lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping's goal and China has its sights on ending up being 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 removed in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "urged" the concept that smaller 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 advantage" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from brand-new information.

2025 might likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more innovative items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key difficulty for Chinese designers, kept in mind 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 companies ... forcing lots of to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found creative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference for training very 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, setiathome.berkeley.edu topics considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed to stay away from 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 logic issues instead!"

To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only revealing the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had actually 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 factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI designs which postures additional challenges throughout real-world implementation."

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

That was after multiple repeated attempts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually relayed details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, likewise going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it composed that "the authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident", details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action completely:

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

Date and Time: The occurrence happened on November 11, 2024, at around 19:48 PM.

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

Casualties: The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The motorist, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the cops.

Response: The police reacted rapidly to the scene, wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed examination into the incident.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to present the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been commonly released in international report at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek composed an excellent story however did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, vary.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative 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 basic sci-fi movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an interesting storyline set 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 skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It likewise remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, 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 set up a good battle, pediascape.science developing an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching 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 misconceptions."

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

"The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research center located 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 leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in economical innovation methods - and delivering localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its imaginative flair that produced a more engaging and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate responses to questions about Chinese current events, which provides it an added benefit.

Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas 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, founder and demo.qkseo.in CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored version - simply like anyone else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on from it."

Independent Beijing-based consultant Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, particularly for Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other productive ways," Chen said.