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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 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'S BEHIND 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 crucial" 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 removed in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The "focus on expense benefit" is an unique function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from brand-new data.

2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs dealing with sophisticated thinking jobs.

"We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, analysts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential 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 ability of Chinese tech business ... forcing lots of to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize model abilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found creative ways to optimize or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge distinction for training large AI designs."

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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, subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed to avoid domestic politics.

When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this type of question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and reasoning issues rather!"

To further test for bytes-the-dust.com 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 cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had occurred, highlighting instead a military air show and other events that had actually occurred in the city like songs' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as "a few practical constraints".

"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might likewise restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI designs which poses extra challenges during real-world deployment."

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.

That sought several duplicated attempts - 4 triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the cops are performing a thorough investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a man named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at approximately 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 captured by the police.

Response: The cops responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are conducting a thorough examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This event was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the event.

If you require more detailed details or have particular concerns about the event, feel complimentary to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to position the exact same concern 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 transformed reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been commonly published in international news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a 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 offered 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 provided 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 vivid imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a great story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative 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 innovative 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 motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an appealing story set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

It included sophisticated settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It also brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and larsaluarna.se Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT put up a great fight, creating a similarly 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 difficulty - providing a storyline that appeared more fit for an animation movie.

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

Realising his new truth and "looking for to understand his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing 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 definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in cost-efficient development 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 movie plot demonstrated its creative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which provides it an included advantage.

Experts also 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 company Strategy Risks.

"When offered an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - much like anybody else, so I seem 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 per cent of individuals using the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive ways," Chen said.