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 startup DeepSeek and systemcheck-wiki.de OpenAI’s ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)

This audio is produced 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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “strategically important” and its venture into the field has actually been “years in the making”, 89u89.com said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

Private and public investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The “focus on cost advantage” is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.

2025 could likewise see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs dealing with advanced thinking tasks.

“We could see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research study,” 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 innovative and affordable methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly 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) limit the capability of Chinese tech business … requiring lots of to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design capabilities,” she said.

“While some business like DeepSeek, have actually discovered innovative methods to enhance or use more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge distinction for training 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, subjects considered sensitive 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 conflicts or inform you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are set to stay away from 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 reasoning problems rather!”

To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same concern: “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 media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later on.

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

Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship along with “a few practical constraints”.

“DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the design can be trained or upgraded,” she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language information may also restrict its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks … As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn’t yet been checked as broadly or on the exact same scale as more recognized AI designs which poses extra obstacles throughout real-world release.”

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

That wanted numerous duplicated efforts - four prompts to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 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, in addition to casualties.

However, wavedream.wiki it composed that “the police are conducting an extensive examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and garagesale.es terrible incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident 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 bio.rogstecnologia.com.br 43 injuries.

Perpetrator: The motorist, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the authorities.

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

Investigation: The authorities are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the event.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply “I do not have specific details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The modified response likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been commonly published in global news reports at the time of the mishap - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

“Qwen2.5 delivered a story that constructs gradually from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant images 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 did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice.”

Opinions, though, differ.

Chen thinks 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 creative writing,” he informed CNA.

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As reporters and writers, 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 created an appealing storyline set 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 skyscrapers”, “holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms”.

It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, 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 good fight, coming up with an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined “a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching 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 challenge - delivering a story that seemed more suited for trademarketclassifieds.com an animation movie.

“The movie begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study center located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new truth and “seeking to understand his purpose in this weird brand-new world”, he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each dealing with their own existential crises”.

The trio then starts a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual “Eternal Scroll” from falling into 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, adding that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-efficient innovation methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi motion picture plot showed its creative flair that made for a more engaging and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and accurate responses to questions about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an included advantage.

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

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

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

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