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 generated by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country into a tech superpower has actually 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 important" and its venture into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed promises of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company simply changed the rules of tech-geopolitics

The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling innovative reasoning jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical ways to apply generative AI to tasks and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains an essential obstacle for Chinese developers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, bytes-the-dust.com an associate professor at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech companies ... forcing numerous to depend on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and decrease model capabilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have found innovative ways to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training huge AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects business to comply with its laws

US checking out whether DeepSeek utilized limited AI chips obtained through other countries, source states

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 considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as no 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 issues instead!"

To even more test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact 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 initially heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its flexibility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI designs which postures extra obstacles throughout real-world implementation."

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

That was after multiple repeated efforts - four prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and setiathome.berkeley.edu time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that "the cops are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic incident happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a man called 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 key 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the cops.

Response: larsaluarna.se The police responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to pose the same concern 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 also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been extensively released in international 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 deliver structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses 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, mentally rich story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative 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 creative writing," he informed CNA.

Related:

China's new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?

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

As journalists and writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with 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 float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It also brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub 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 set up a great battle, creating an equally significant 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 guideline, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."

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

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

Realising his brand-new truth and "seeking to understand his function in this strange new world", he then escapes and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a mission, navigating 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 showed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just replicating Western paradigms, however rather developing in affordable development approaches - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi film 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 recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and factual responses to questions about Chinese existing events, which gives it an included advantage.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

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

"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - similar to anyone else, so I feel 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, especially for Chinese users.

"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other efficient means," Chen said.