wamc-1950

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 becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically essential" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated scientist 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 showed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he adds.

'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI model as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI business just changed the guidelines of tech-geopolitics

The "emphasis on expense advantage" is an unique feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from brand-new data.

2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated thinking tasks.

"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research study," Chen included.

AGI refers to 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 economical ways to use generative AI to tasks and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key 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) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... forcing many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design capabilities," she said.

"While some companies like DeepSeek, have found creative ways to enhance or use more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big distinction for training large AI models."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects companies to comply with its laws

US checking out whether DeepSeek utilized limited AI chips obtained through other countries, source says

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 deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the web so it need to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

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

When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", setiathome.berkeley.edu DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this type of question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!"

To further check for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: "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 heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other occasions that had 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 elements at play, such as censorship along with "a few practical constraints".

"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the design can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its flexibility (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 models which postures extra challenges during real-world release."

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

That was after numerous duplicated efforts - four prompts to be accurate - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots of others injured, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and bio.rogstecnologia.com.br age, as well as casualties.

However, it composed that "the cops are carrying out a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the event", details which is now outdated.

The motorist, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful occurrence occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a man 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 crucial details:

Date and Time: The event took place on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was captured by the cops.

Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, forum.altaycoins.com and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to health centers for treatment.

Investigation: The police are carrying out an extensive investigation into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.

This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public issue. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their households, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the incident.

If you require more detailed details or have specific concerns about the incident, feel free to ask.

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to present the same question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have particular details on occasions that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

The altered reaction also raised concerns about its consistency and dependability.

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

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "emotionally abundant" writing.

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

"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually 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, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek wrote a good story however lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."

Opinions, though, differ.

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

"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.

Related:

China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?

'Made in China': Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek jolts international AI scene

As reporters and authors, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek came up with an appealing storyline set 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 float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".

It likewise remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up a good fight, developing an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline 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 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 matched for an .

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

Realising his new truth and "looking for to comprehend his purpose in this unusual brand-new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each struggling with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts 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 kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a definitive declaration" 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 designs are not merely replicating Western paradigms, however rather progressing in affordable innovation techniques - 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 produced a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate reactions to questions about Chinese current occasions, which offers 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, founder and it-viking.ch CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing from it."

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

"Ninety per cent of individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient means," Chen said.