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 created 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 objective and China has its sights on ending up being 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”, said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated 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 pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The “emphasis on cost advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of using a trained design to draw conclusions from new data.

2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated thinking tasks.

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

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, experts state, building on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and economical methods to apply generative AI to jobs and establish more innovative products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia’s innovative AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese designers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

“US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech companies … requiring numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease model abilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to enhance or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference 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, subjects deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 type of concern yet. Let’s chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems instead!”

To even more test 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 car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had taken place in the city like songs’ day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

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

“DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the design can be trained or upgraded,” she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks … As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn’t yet been evaluated as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI designs which postures extra obstacles during real-world release.”

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

That wanted numerous repeated efforts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately 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 a thorough examination into the motives and situations surrounding the incident”, details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response in full:

Answer: gratisafhalen.be On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: 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, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the cops.

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

Investigation: The police are performing an extensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered significant public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to posture the very same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply “I don’t have specific details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The transformed reaction likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

“Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unforeseen 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 significant twist”.

“DeepSeek composed a great story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice.”

Opinions, however, vary.

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

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

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As 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 movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

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

It included fancy settings - smoggy skies “pierced by high-rise buildings”, “holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms”.

It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as “a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club owner “drowning in financial obligation and vices” and Sha Wujing as a “quiet hulking android” from the Yangtze River, whose “memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT installed a great fight, developing a similarly significant cyberpunk storyline 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 guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths.”

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

“The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research facility located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, engel-und-waisen.de then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new truth and “looking for to comprehend his purpose in this strange brand-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, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was “difficult to make a definitive declaration” about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, “such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization”.

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in economical innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and archmageriseswiki.com accurate responses to concerns about Chinese current events, which gives it an added benefit.

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,” kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

“When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - just like anyone else, so I feel like that’s a piece missing 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 percent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They’re using it for other efficient means,” Chen said.