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 start-up DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

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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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “strategically crucial” and its foray 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 promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that really “urged” the concept that smaller gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The “emphasis on cost benefit” is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs taking on advanced thinking jobs.

"We could see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research study,” Chen included.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical ways to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced products beyond .

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese developers, kept in mind 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 ... requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model abilities,” she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative ways to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI models.“

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So how do Chinese AI bots compare 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 web so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or inform you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend 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 type of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues instead!“

To even more evaluate 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 vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes 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 units and has actually restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or updated,” she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise limit its versatility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which poses additional obstacles during real-world release.“

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

That was after several duplicated efforts - four triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and pediascape.science age, as well as casualties.

However, it composed that “the police are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The event happened 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 motorist, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the authorities.

Response: The cops reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the incident.

This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered significant public concern. The government and regional authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the event.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to posture the exact same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I don't have specific details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The altered response likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had been extensively released in international news reports 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 psychological shifts for a well-paced story,” composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting,” she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually “crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more significant twist”.

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

Opinions, though, larsaluarna.se differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative writing.

”(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing,” he informed CNA.

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As journalists 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 epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of fancy 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 also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as “a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body”, surgiteams.com Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner “drowning in debt and vices” and Sha Wujing as a “silent hulking android” from the Yangtze River, whose “memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT installed a good fight, creating an equally remarkable 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions.“

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation film.

"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research facility located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new truth and “looking for to comprehend his function in this strange new world”, he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and larsaluarna.se Sha Wujing - “each struggling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was “hard to make a conclusive statement” about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-effective innovation techniques - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and factual reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an included benefit.

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

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

"When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - much like anybody 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, specifically for Chinese users.

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