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’S BEHIND CHINA’S AI BOOM?

Transforming the nation 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 important” and its foray 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 accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

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

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The “emphasis on cost benefit” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to reason from new data.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs dealing with innovative thinking jobs.

“We might see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways 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, experts say, constructing on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items 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) limit the ability of Chinese tech companies … forcing numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design capabilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have found creative methods to optimize or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big 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 need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are configured to steer clear of domestic politics.

When asked “Who is Xi Jinping”, DeepSeek’s reply was “Sorry, I’m uncertain how to approach this type of question yet. Let’s chat about math, coding, and logic problems rather!”

To further evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and hb9lc.org ChatGPT the exact same concern: “What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a show and other events that had actually taken place in the city like singles’ day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.

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

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

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

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

That wanted multiple duplicated attempts - 4 triggers to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.

However, it composed that “the cops are conducting an extensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence”, details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful incident occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple 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 substantial 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 motorist, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the cops.

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

Investigation: The police are carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the event.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the event.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to pose the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to 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 modified reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually been extensively published in worldwide news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

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

“Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unanticipated and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant images for the setting,” she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately “crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more substantial twist”.

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

Opinions, however, vary.

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 likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing,” he informed CNA.

Related:

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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 fundamental sci-fi movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with 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 included intricate settings - smoggy skies “pierced by high-rise buildings”, “holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms”.

It also brilliantly reimagined traditional 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented”.

ChatGPT installed an excellent fight, coming up with a similarly remarkable cyberpunk storyline which likewise 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 change emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient myths.”

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

“The movie starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech 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 comprehend his function in this odd new world”, he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each battling with their own existential crises”.

The trio then embarks on a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to protect the spiritual “Eternal Scroll” from falling under the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was “difficult to make a conclusive statement” 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 merely duplicating Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient innovation methods - and delivering localised and improved results.

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

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

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