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 created by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT'S BEHIND 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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "tactically crucial" 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 wiki.myamens.com China Analysis.
Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
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The "focus on expense benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, setiathome.berkeley.edu Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to reason from brand-new information.
2025 might likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI models taking on advanced reasoning jobs.
"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research," Chen added.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient ways to apply generative AI to jobs and develop advanced 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 professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring lots of to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model abilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative ways to optimize or use more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big distinction for training extremely big 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 delicate by the state are censored on the web so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what happened 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 concern yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and logic issues rather!"
To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other occasions that had actually occurred in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks 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 units and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which poses additional difficulties during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our question about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.
That sought numerous repeated efforts - four prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots of others hurt, 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 wrote that "the cops are conducting a comprehensive examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now dated.
The motorist, Fan, was performed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response in full:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The event occurred 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 of ages), was collared by the authorities.
Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are carrying out an extensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence.
This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The government and regional authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and pipewiki.org their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, feel complimentary to ask.
Despite preliminary 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 occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The altered action likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively published in global report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally abundant" 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 delivered a story that constructs gradually from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist".
"DeepSeek composed an excellent story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, though, differ.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in innovative writing," he informed CNA.
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As reporters and writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, wiki-tb-service.com Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek developed an appealing story set 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 high-rise buildings", "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 taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in debt 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 great battle, coming up with an equally dramatic cyberpunk story 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 guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - providing a story that appeared more suited for an animation movie.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research facility located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new reality and "seeking to comprehend his function in this strange new world", he then escapes and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".
The trio then starts a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-effective innovation methods - and providing localised and improved 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 innovative flair that made for a more interesting 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 accurate reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an added benefit.
Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a downside 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 want the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing 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 per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive methods," Chen said.
