How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT? - 153

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 created by an AI tool.

Bong Xin Ying

Lakeisha Leo

WHAT'S BEHIND CHINA'S AI BOOM?

Transforming the country 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 venture 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller gamers like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.

'A lot is up in the air': wiki.snooze-hotelsoftware.de Is Chinese firm DeepSeek's AI design as impactful as it claims?

Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company simply altered the rules of tech-geopolitics

The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, higgledy-piggledy.xyz with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new information.

2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI models tackling innovative thinking jobs.

"We could see some AI firms focusing on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research study," Chen included.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and affordable ways to use generative AI to jobs and establish more advanced products beyond chatbots.

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese developers, 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 alternatives which can slow training and minimize design capabilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative methods to optimize or use more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training really big AI designs."

DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore states it expects business to adhere to its laws

US looking into whether DeepSeek utilized limited AI chips obtained through other nations, source states

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, topics considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as no that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed to avoid 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 mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!"

To even more test for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same question: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"

The car attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later on.

DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually happened, highlighting rather a military air program and other events that had taken place 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 units and has actually limited access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise limit its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI designs which positions additional challenges throughout real-world release."

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

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

It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots of others hurt, engel-und-waisen.de also 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 conducting an extensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The occurrence occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 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 of ages), was apprehended by the cops.

Response: The police reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to transfer the injured to medical facilities for treatment.

Investigation: The police are conducting a thorough investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event.

This occasion was extensively reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have actually been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the incident.

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 question to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on occasions that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been extensively released in international news reports 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 provide structured and even "mentally abundant" 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 provided a story that builds gradually from curiosity 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 abundant story with a more significant twist".

"DeepSeek composed an excellent story however did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."

Opinions, however, vary.

Chen thinks 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 jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as strongly as others in imaginative writing," he told CNA.

Related:

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

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

As journalists 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 set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek developed an engaging storyline set in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".

It included 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 brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".

ChatGPT set up an excellent fight, developing an equally dramatic cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the legendary figures of Journey to the West".

"This is a world where AI deities guideline, corporations change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."

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

"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 truth and "seeking to comprehend his purpose in this weird new world", he then escapes and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".

The trio then starts a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "tough to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable development methods - and providing localised and improved results.

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

DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its imaginative flair that made for a more engaging and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and factual actions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which offers it an added benefit.

Experts also 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, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - similar to anybody else, so I feel like that's a piece missing out on 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 people using the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're using it for other efficient ways," Chen said.