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 start-up 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 long been President Xi Jinping’s goal and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “strategically crucial” and its foray into the field has 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 showed pledges of real-world organization applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that really “encouraged” the idea that smaller gamers like might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.

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The “emphasis on expense advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and yewiki.org reasoning expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new information.

2025 might likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI models taking on innovative thinking jobs.

“We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and integrate them with clinical research,” Chen included.

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

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, developing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient ways to use generative AI to jobs and develop more innovative products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia’s innovative AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty 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 lots of to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found innovative methods to optimize or use more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big distinction for training huge AI designs.”

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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, subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!”

To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: “What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.

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

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

“DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to innovative hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded,” she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language information might also limit its adaptability (to carry out) multilingual jobs … As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn’t yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which presents extra obstacles throughout real-world implementation.”

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

That was after multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.

However, it wrote that “the cops are conducting an extensive investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident”, details which is now dated.

The motorist, Fan, engel-und-waisen.de was performed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s action in complete:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous 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 considerable number of casualties. Here are the key details:

Date and Time: The incident took place 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, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was nabbed by the authorities.

Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the hurt to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.

This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to provide support to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

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

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

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been commonly released in global report at the time of the accident - 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 reflective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story,” composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

“Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually 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 eventually “crafted a more cinematic, mentally abundant story with a more considerable twist”.

“DeepSeek wrote a great story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice.”

Opinions, wiki.dulovic.tech though, 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 strongly as others in creative writing,” he informed CNA.

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As reporters 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 film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.

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

It consisted of intricate settings - smoggy skies “pierced by skyscrapers”, “holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms”.

It also brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body”, Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner “drowning in financial obligation and vices” and Sha Wujing as a “quiet hulking android” from the Yangtze River, whose “memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT put up an excellent fight, creating an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which similarly 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths.”

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

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

Realising his new reality and “seeking to comprehend his function in this strange new world”, he then leaves and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each battling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not just replicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in cost-effective innovation approaches - and providing localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its imaginative 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, provides accurate and accurate actions to concerns about Chinese existing events, which provides it an included advantage.

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

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

“When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - simply like anybody else, so I seem like that’s a piece missing from it.”

Independent Beijing-based consultant Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, especially for Chinese users.

“Ninety per cent of people utilizing 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 methods,” Chen said.