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 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 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 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 accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed promises of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "urged" the concept that smaller players like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research and surgiteams.com developments, he includes.
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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new data.
2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling advanced reasoning tasks.
"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research," Chen included.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical ways to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese designers, 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 companies ... forcing lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design capabilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered creative ways to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI designs."
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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, topics deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"
To further evaluate 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 at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had actually occurred in the city like songs' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects 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 innovative hardware which can affect how rapidly 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 may likewise limit its versatility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI designs which poses additional difficulties throughout real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That wanted numerous repeated efforts - 4 triggers to be accurate - 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 wrote that "the police are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the event", details which is now dated.
The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:
Date and Time: pipewiki.org 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the police.
Response: The authorities responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the injured to health centers for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.
This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public issue. The federal government and local authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require more detailed details or have particular questions about the incident, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to position the very same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The altered response likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been widely released in international report at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver 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 writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story however did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, though, vary.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing," he told 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 standard sci-fi movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek created an engaging storyline embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It included sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined standard 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 "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT installed an excellent battle, creating a similarly significant 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 common as ancient myths."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - providing a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation film.
"The motion picture begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new truth and "seeking to understand his function in this odd brand-new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather developing in cost-efficient innovation methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own distinct strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more engaging and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual reactions to concerns about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an included advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas 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, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When provided a choice, 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 specialist Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, particularly for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other efficient methods," Chen said.
