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)

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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 goal and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

AI as being "strategically essential" and its venture into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world organization applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that actually "encouraged" the idea that smaller sized players like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of using a trained design to reason from new data.

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

"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and integrate them with clinical research study," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to apply generative AI to jobs 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 difficulty for Chinese developers, noted 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 many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and lower model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have found innovative methods to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training large 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 considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it need to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured 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 question yet. Let's chat about math, coding, and reasoning issues rather!"

To even more evaluate for precision 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 automobile attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship along with "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might also limit its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which postures extra obstacles throughout real-world implementation."

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

That sought multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others injured, 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 composed that "the cops are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several 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 substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: 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 forum.batman.gainedge.org 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the authorities.

Response: The cops responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are carrying out a thorough examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the very same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The modified action also raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been extensively released in global report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.

"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective 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 interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers 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, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist".

"DeepSeek composed an excellent story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."

Opinions, though, vary.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly 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 highly as others in creative 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 basic sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an appealing storyline embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges 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 between quantum server farms".

It also remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and 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 battle, developing an equally dramatic cyberpunk story 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 common as ancient myths."

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

"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research center located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this strange new world", he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "challenging to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather evolving in economical innovation methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its creative flair that produced 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, supplies precise and accurate responses to questions about Chinese current events, which gives it an included benefit.

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," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - similar to anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing out on from it."

Independent Beijing-based expert Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, especially for Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other efficient methods," Chen said.