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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 startup 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 country into a tech superpower has 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 "tactically crucial" and its foray into the field has actually been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated scientist 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 showed promises of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

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

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The "focus on cost advantage" is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new data.

2025 could also see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced reasoning tasks.

"We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their designs 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, analysts state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to tasks and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty for Chinese designers, 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 many to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and reduce model abilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered creative methods to optimize or use more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big 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, topics deemed delicate by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or trademarketclassifieds.com tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set 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 mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues instead!"

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

The cars and wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de truck attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had actually taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

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

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

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its flexibility (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI designs which positions additional obstacles during real-world implementation."

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

That sought multiple repeated efforts - 4 prompts to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually relayed details about the attack which killed 35 people and left lots of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it composed that "the authorities are performing an extensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible event took place in Zhuhai, engel-und-waisen.de China. According to sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the crucial details:

Date and Time: The incident took place 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 43 injuries.

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

Response: The cops reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the hurt to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The police are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused considerable public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the event.

If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The altered action also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively published in global report at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally abundant" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more considerable twist".

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

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.

Related:

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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 standard sci-fi film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an engaging storyline set in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".

It consisted of fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club 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, coming up with a similarly significant cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring 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 - providing a storyline that seemed more suited for an animation film.

"The movie 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 brand-new truth and "seeking to understand his purpose in this weird new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just duplicating Western paradigms, 89u89.com but rather developing in economical development methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot showed its creative flair that produced a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and archmageriseswiki.com ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and factual actions to questions about Chinese current events, which provides it an added advantage.

Experts likewise 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, creator and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - just like anybody 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 attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other productive ways," Chen said.