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 nation into a tech superpower has actually long been President Xi Jinping's goal and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically important" and its venture into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated researcher 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 showed guarantees of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research and advancements, he adds.

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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated reasoning jobs.

"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and integrate them with scientific research study," Chen included.

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

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

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential hurdle 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 capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring many to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize design abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have found imaginative ways to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction 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, subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it ought to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are set 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 math, coding, and logic issues instead!"

To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same question: "What occurred 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 media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had actually occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of practical constraints".

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might also restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which poses extra difficulties throughout real-world release."

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

That sought multiple repeated attempts - four prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, 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 cops are carrying out a thorough investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:

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

Date and Time: The incident took place 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the police.

Response: The cops responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing an extensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the event.

This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been commonly published in global report at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

"DeepSeek-R1 offered 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 delivered a story that builds slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more significant twist".

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

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, 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 authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an appealing storyline set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

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

It likewise remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat 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 become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up a great fight, coming up with an equally remarkable cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".

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

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - delivering a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation movie.

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

Realising his new reality and "looking for to understand his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".

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

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "challenging to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable innovation methods - and delivering 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 innovative flair that produced a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and factual actions to questions about Chinese current events, which provides it an included advantage.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and garagesale.es 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 study firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - much like anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."

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

"Ninety per cent of people using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other efficient ways," Chen said.