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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 startup DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, it-viking.ch 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 actually long been President Xi Jinping's objective 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 foray 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 financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

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

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The "focus on cost advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and bytes-the-dust.com reasoning costs - the costs of using a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on innovative reasoning jobs.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts say, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de economical methods to use AI to jobs and develop more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a key hurdle 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) restrict the capability of Chinese tech business ... forcing lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually found imaginative ways to enhance or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction 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 sensitive 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 suggest Chinese chatbots are set to steer clear of 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 reasoning issues rather!"

To even more evaluate for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The car attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later on.

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

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

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to cutting-edge 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 focus on Chinese-language data may also limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI designs which positions additional challenges throughout real-world implementation."

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

That sought several repeated attempts - four prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals 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 composed that "the authorities are performing a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident took place 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 chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was captured by the cops.

Response: The authorities responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the hurt to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out an extensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident.

This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their families, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the event.

If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the incident, feel totally free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to pose the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been widely published in global news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have 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," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, though, vary.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in innovative writing," he informed 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 embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It included intricate 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 standard heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT installed a good fight, developing an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring 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 - providing a storyline that appeared more suited for an animation movie.

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

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

The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect 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 areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, disgaeawiki.info but rather developing in affordable innovation approaches - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and accurate reactions to concerns about Chinese present occasions, which gives it an added advantage.

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

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

"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - simply 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 percent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient means," Chen said.