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 generated by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?
Transforming the country 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 "strategically crucial" 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and larsaluarna.se revealed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and hb9lc.org inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from new information.
2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI models taking on advanced thinking jobs.
"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial 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 abilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, experts state, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key obstacle for Chinese developers, noted Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... forcing lots of to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and decrease model abilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative ways to enhance or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training large 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, topics deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest 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 concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues instead!"
To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually occurred, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had actually occurred 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 as well as "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information might likewise limit its flexibility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which presents additional difficulties during real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our question about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That wanted multiple duplicated efforts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, likewise 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 wrote that "the cops are performing a thorough examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now obsoleted.
The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's reaction in full:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: wiki.dulovic.tech The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, 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, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the police.
Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the hurt to medical facilities for trademarketclassifieds.com treatment.
Investigation: The authorities are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.
This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the event, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to pose the very same concern to Qwen2.5 led to 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 reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly released in international news reports at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "emotionally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story but lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, though, vary.
Chen thinks 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 jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.
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As journalists 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 film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic 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 merges with quantum computing".
It consisted of 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 traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT put up an excellent battle, coming up with a similarly dramatic cyberpunk storyline which likewise 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this obstacle - delivering a storyline that seemed more fit for an animation movie.
"The motion picture starts 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 "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this strange brand-new world", he then leaves and meets 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 wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "hard to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in economical innovation approaches - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own special strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and accurate actions to questions about Chinese existing events, which gives it an included benefit.
Experts likewise weighed in on their thoughts after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.
"When provided a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - simply 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, specifically for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of people using the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other productive means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
ulyssestate098 edited this page 2025-04-13 00:16:36 +08:00