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 lags 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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “tactically crucial” and its venture into the field has actually 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world company applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The “emphasis on expense advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained design to reason from brand-new data.

2025 might also see the emergence of more Chinese AI models dealing with sophisticated thinking jobs.

“We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus 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 business are moving rapidly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.

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

“US export controls (still) limit the ability of Chinese tech companies … requiring numerous to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model capabilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to enhance or utilize more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge difference for training really large AI models.”

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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 considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it should come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed to avoid 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 problems instead!”

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

The car attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship along with “a few useful constraints”.

“DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to innovative hardware which can affect 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 restrict its flexibility (to perform) multilingual tasks … As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn’t yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI models which poses additional challenges throughout real-world release.”

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba’s chatbot surprisingly answered our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.

That wanted multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It eventually communicated 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, in addition to casualties.

However, it wrote that “the cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now dated.

The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s reaction in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a considerable number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

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

Response: The cops responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are performing an extensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the event.

This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to position 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 occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The modified response likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been widely released in global news reports 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 provide structured and even “emotionally abundant” writing.

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

“Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid imagery for the setting,” she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually “crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist”.

“DeepSeek composed a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option.”

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative 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 imaginative 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 basic sci-fi movie plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an appealing story set 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 in between quantum server farms”.

It likewise brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub 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 fight, developing a similarly remarkable 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 rule, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a story that seemed more suited for an animation film.

“The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and “looking for to comprehend his purpose in this odd new world”, he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each having problem with their own existential crises”.

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

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-effective development techniques - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi movie plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that produced a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which offers it an added advantage.

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

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

“When provided a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I seem like that’s a piece missing out on 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 percent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They’re using it for other productive means,” Chen said.