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)

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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 essential” and its venture into the field has actually been “years in the making”, said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher 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 revealed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that really “encouraged” the idea that smaller players like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The “emphasis on expense benefit” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of using a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated reasoning jobs.

“We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research,” Chen included.

AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia’s innovative 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 rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize design capabilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have found creative methods to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge distinction 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, subjects deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as no 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 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 concern yet. Let’s chat about math, coding, and logic issues rather!”

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

The car attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily 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 instead a military air show and other occasions that had actually occurred in the city like songs’ day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of aspects 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 restricted access to innovative hardware which can affect how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated,” she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may also limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs … As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which postures additional challenges throughout real-world release.”

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

That sought multiple duplicated attempts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, likewise going on to list 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 performing a thorough examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident”, details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event took place in Zhuhai, oeclub.org China. According to multiple news sources, a male called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, raovatonline.org resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The occurrence happened 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was apprehended by the cops.

Response: The police responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the event.

This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to supply support to the victims and their households, and larsaluarna.se to guarantee a detailed examination into the occurrence.

If you need more detailed details or have specific questions about the event, surgiteams.com feel free to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply “I do not have particular details on occasions that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The altered reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

“DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story,” composed 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 provides an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant 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 an excellent story however did not have tension 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, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in innovative writing,” he told CNA.

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As journalists and authors, we had to see this for bytes-the-dust.com ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi movie 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 appealing story embeded in the year 2145 titled, “Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra” - which sees “a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing”.

It consisted of elaborate settings - smoggy skies “pierced by skyscrapers”, “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 “a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar 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 set up a great fight, creating a similarly significant 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a story that appeared more matched for an animation film.

“The motion picture begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research center located 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 weird new world”, he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each struggling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then starts a quest, the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was “tough to make a definitive statement” about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different locations, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not simply replicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable innovation techniques - and delivering localised and enhanced outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi film plot showed its creative 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, supplies accurate and factual responses to questions about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an added benefit.

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

“DeepSeek is at a disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints,” noted Isaac Stone Fish, yewiki.org creator and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

“When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - just like anyone 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, particularly for Chinese users.

“Ninety percent of people using the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They’re using it for other productive means,” Chen said.