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)
This audio is produced by an AI tool.
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 goal and wiki.dulovic.tech 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 scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public investments in Chinese AI accelerated 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 idea that smaller sized players like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research and advancements, he includes.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinctive feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of using a trained design to reason from new data.
2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI designs tackling advanced thinking jobs.
"We could see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research study," Chen included.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective methods to use generative AI to tasks and establish more innovative items beyond chatbots.
But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential obstacle for Chinese designers, noted 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 ... forcing lots of to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and minimize design capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative ways to enhance or use more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining advanced chips still makes a huge distinction for training extremely big AI designs."
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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 internet so it must come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend 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 question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and reasoning issues instead!"
To further evaluate 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 vehicle attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had happened, highlighting instead a military air program and other events that had happened in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of useful constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing units and has limited access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the design can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may also limit its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which poses extra challenges throughout real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, remarkably answered our concern about the Zhuhai car attack.
That wanted multiple repeated efforts - four triggers to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It eventually passed on details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de likewise going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.
However, it wrote that "the police are performing a thorough investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.
The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response in full:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and awful occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, wiki.whenparked.com male, 62 years of ages) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at approximately 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 chauffeur, identified as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was nabbed by the cops.
Response: The cops reacted rapidly to the scene, and wiki.dulovic.tech emergency situation services worked to transport the hurt to health centers for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are carrying out an extensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence.
This event was commonly reported in the media and triggered substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer assistance to the victims and their families, and archmageriseswiki.com to make sure a detailed investigation into the event.
If you require more detailed details or have particular questions about the incident, feel totally free to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent efforts to position the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified action likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had been widely released in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother psychological transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, mentally rich story with a more considerable twist".
"DeepSeek wrote an excellent story however did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, though, vary.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing," he informed CNA.
Related:
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As journalists and writers, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a basic sci-fi motion picture 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 interesting storyline embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges 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 in between quantum server farms".
It likewise brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar 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 a good battle, coming up with an equally significant cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary figures of Journey to the West".
"This is a world where AI deities guideline, 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 fit for an animation film.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new truth and "seeking to understand his function in this odd new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and setiathome.berkeley.edu Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "tough to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in cost-effective innovation techniques - 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 film plot showed its imaginative flair that made for a more engaging and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and factual reactions to questions about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an included advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and surgiteams.com CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When provided a choice, 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 expert Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, especially for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of people using the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're using it for other efficient methods," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
Bradly Tuttle edited this page 2025-02-16 02:04:26 +08:00