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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 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 lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has actually 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 essential" and its venture into the field has 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 accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinctive function of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of using a trained model to draw conclusions from new data.

2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI models dealing with sophisticated reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to apply generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential hurdle 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) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and decrease design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found creative ways to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference for training large 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 disputes or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend 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 type of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems rather!"

To further test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same concern: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The automobile attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting instead a military air program and higgledy-piggledy.xyz other occasions that had actually taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship in addition to "a couple of useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has actually restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

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

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

That wanted multiple duplicated efforts - 4 triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it composed that "the police are performing an extensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, disgaeawiki.info at approximately 19:48 PM.

Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.

Casualties: The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The motorist, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the police.

Response: The authorities responded rapidly to the scene, forum.altaycoins.com and emergency services worked to carry the hurt to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are conducting an extensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the event.

This event was widely reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The government and local authorities have been working to provide assistance to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to posture the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to 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 transformed action likewise raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been widely released in worldwide news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds gradually from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek wrote an excellent story however lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."

Opinions, though, vary.

Chen thinks 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 also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in innovative writing," he told CNA.

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As journalists and authors, we had 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, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".

It included 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 also brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, bytes-the-dust.com whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up a great battle, creating an equally remarkable cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the famous figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths."

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

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

Realising his brand-new truth and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this odd new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and - "each fighting 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 into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was "hard to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not merely reproducing Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable innovation methods - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that produced a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual actions to concerns about Chinese existing events, forum.altaycoins.com which provides it an added advantage.

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

"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing from it."

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

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