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 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 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 “strategically essential” and its venture into the field has been “years in the making”, wavedream.wiki said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s increase that truly “encouraged” the idea that smaller gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.

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The “focus on cost advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of using a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI models tackling advanced thinking tasks.

“We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research study,” Chen included.

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 innovative and affordable methods to use generative AI to jobs and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia’s sophisticated AI chips, wavedream.wiki remains a key difficulty 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 business … requiring numerous to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce model abilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to optimize or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training very 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, 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 disagreements or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured to avoid 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 mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues instead!”

To even more check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and pipewiki.org ChatGPT the exact same concern: “What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

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

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

Dr Zhang believes that it might 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 advanced hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded,” 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 brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which presents extra obstacles during real-world implementation.”

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba’s chatbot remarkably answered our question about the Zhuhai automobile attack.

That wanted several repeated efforts - four prompts to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually 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, in addition to casualties.

However, it wrote that “the authorities are performing a thorough investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now outdated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The incident took place on November 11, 2024, at approximately 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, wiki.asexuality.org recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the police.

Response: The police responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transport the injured to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a thorough investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered significant public concern. The federal government and local authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the incident.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to present the same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I do not have specific details on occasions that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The altered response also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been commonly published in international report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even “emotionally rich” writing.

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

“Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting,” she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately “crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist”.

“DeepSeek composed a great story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option.”

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out 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 highly as others in imaginative 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 set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of elaborate 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 conventional heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner “drowning in financial obligation 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 a great battle, creating an equally significant cyberpunk story 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 myths.”

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

“The movie begins 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 new truth and “looking for to understand his purpose in this odd new world”, he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each dealing with their own existential crises”.

The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was “challenging to make a definitive declaration” about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, “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 cost-effective innovation approaches - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi film plot demonstrated its creative flair that made for a more appealing and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and accurate actions to questions about Chinese existing occasions, which provides it an included advantage.

Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.

“DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints,” kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

“When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - much like anyone else, so I feel 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, specifically for Chinese users.

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