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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?

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, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

This audio is produced by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT’S BEHIND CHINA’S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping’s objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “tactically crucial” and its foray into the field has been “years in the making”, said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for yewiki.org China Analysis.

Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s increase that really “encouraged” the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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The “emphasis on cost advantage” is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs – the expenses of using a trained design to reason from brand-new information.

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated thinking jobs.

“We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and integrate them with scientific research study,” Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts state, developing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own ingenious and affordable ways to use generative AI to tasks and develop advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia’s innovative AI chips, remains a key difficulty for Chinese designers, 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 … requiring many to count on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design abilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered creative ways to optimize or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training huge AI designs.”

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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, pipewiki.org subjects considered 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 disputes or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: “What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

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

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

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship in addition to “a few practical constraints”.

“DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded,” she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language information might also restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual jobs … As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been evaluated as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which poses extra challenges throughout real-world implementation.”

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

That was after several repeated efforts – 4 prompts to be accurate – in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others injured, also 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 cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now obsoleted.

The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, forum.batman.gainedge.org a significant and awful occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The occurrence occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 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 motorist, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the police.

Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing an extensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This event was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The federal 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 particular questions about the event, feel complimentary to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to present the very same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I don’t have particular details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The transformed reaction likewise raised concerns about its and reliability.

Predictably, garagesale.es ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively published in global report at the time of the accident – so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and disgaeawiki.info even “mentally abundant” writing.

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

“Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds gradually from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated 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, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist”.

“DeepSeek wrote a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice.”

Opinions, however, differ.

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

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

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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, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 titled, “Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra” – which sees “a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing”.

It included elaborate settings – smoggy skies “pierced by skyscrapers”, “holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms”.

It also brilliantly reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen 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 installed an excellent battle, creating an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which likewise 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge – providing a storyline that seemed more suited for an animation film.

“The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research facility situated in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new reality and “seeking to comprehend his purpose in this odd brand-new world”, he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing – “each dealing with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a quest, 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 “challenging to make a conclusive statement” about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in economical development approaches – and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its creative flair that made for 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, supplies precise and factual actions to questions about Chinese existing occasions, which offers it an included 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, creator and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

“When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored version – much like anybody else, so I feel 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, particularly for Chinese users.

“Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They’re using it for other productive methods,” Chen said.