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 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 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 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that actually “urged” the concept that smaller gamers like start-up companies could have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.

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

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models dealing with innovative thinking tasks.

“We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research,” Chen added.

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

Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective ways to use generative AI to tasks and establish advanced items 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 professor at University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.

“US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech business … forcing numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives 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 standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge difference for training huge AI models.”

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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, topics considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured to stay away from 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 math, coding, and reasoning issues rather!”

To even more evaluate for precision 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 heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later on.

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

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

“DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or updated,” she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may also limit its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks … As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more recognized AI models which poses extra challenges during real-world release.”

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

That was after numerous repeated efforts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, also going on to like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it wrote that “the cops are conducting a thorough examination into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident”, details which is now obsoleted.

The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The event occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 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, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the cops.

Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The authorities are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event.

This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to present the very same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply “I do not have particular details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024”.

The modified action also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly released in worldwide news reports at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

“DeepSeek-R1 provided 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 delivered a story that builds slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unforeseen 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 rich story with a more significant twist”.

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

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.

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

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As reporters and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic 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 consisted of elaborate 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 “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight 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 become waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT put up an excellent battle, developing an equally significant cyberpunk story 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions.”

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

“The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study facility situated 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 unusual brand-new world”, he then leaves and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each having problem with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a mission, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was “difficult to make a conclusive statement” about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in different areas, “such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization”.

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather progressing in economical innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and accurate reactions to questions about Chinese current events, which provides it an included advantage.

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

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

“When provided an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - just like anybody 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 per cent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They’re utilizing it for other efficient means,” Chen said.