schanwoo

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 nation 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 "tactically important" and its venture 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world company applications, Chen informed CNA.

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

'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI design as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company just changed the guidelines of tech-geopolitics

The "focus on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to jobs and develop more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a key difficulty for Chinese designers, noted 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 business ... requiring many to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found innovative methods to optimize or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training huge AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore states it expects business to abide by its laws

US looking into whether DeepSeek utilized restricted AI chips obtained through other nations, source says

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, topics deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to guide 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 reasoning problems rather!"

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

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

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had taken place, highlighting instead 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 in addition to "a couple of useful constraints".

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

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might likewise restrict its versatility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which poses additional obstacles during real-world deployment."

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

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

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it composed that "the cops are conducting a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The occurrence took place 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the cops.

Response: The cops reacted quickly to the scene, forum.altaycoins.com and emergency services worked to transport the injured to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The government and regional authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to posture the very 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 also raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been widely released in global report at the time of the mishap - so not a 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 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good 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 perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.

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

Related:

China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek creator Liang Wenfeng?

'Made in China': Pride, enjoyable surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek jolts worldwide AI scene

As journalists and bytes-the-dust.com writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an appealing 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 sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It likewise remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT installed a good fight, developing an equally remarkable cyberpunk storyline 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 rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."

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

"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study facility located 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 unusual brand-new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, 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 "difficult to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-effective innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its creative flair that made for a more engaging and creative 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 present events, which provides it an included benefit.

Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas after and other Chinese AI apps.

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

"When provided a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - much like 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, 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 topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient methods," Chen said.