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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 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 produced by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has actually 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 "tactically important" and its venture into the field has 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 sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from new data.

2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced reasoning tasks.

"We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to tasks and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty 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) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... forcing lots of to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big difference for training huge 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 no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform 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 concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!"

To even more evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and it-viking.ch ChatGPT the exact same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a few practical constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to advanced 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 data may also limit its versatility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which poses additional challenges throughout real-world implementation."

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

That was after multiple repeated attempts - 4 prompts to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on 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 cops are carrying out a thorough examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, surgiteams.com a significant and terrible occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) 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 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 chauffeur, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the cops.

Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

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

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the incident.

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

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been widely released in global news reports 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 provide structured and even "mentally rich" writing.

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

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

"DeepSeek composed an excellent story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, though, vary.

Chen thinks 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 jobs, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.

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As reporters and writers, we needed 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 classic Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

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

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

It also remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar 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 put up a great battle, developing an equally significant 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."

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

"The film starts 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 "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this odd brand-new world", he then escapes and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling 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 wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "tough to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not simply replicating Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient innovation approaches - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that made for 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 precise and factual reactions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which provides it an added advantage.

Experts likewise weighed in on their thoughts after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

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

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anybody 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, especially 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 methods," Chen said.