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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)

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

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 objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being "tactically essential" and its venture 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world company applications, Chen informed CNA.

But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "encouraged" the idea that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research and advancements, he adds.

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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinctive feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from new information.

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

"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete methods to commercialise their designs and integrate them with scientific research study," Chen added.

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

Chinese AI companies are moving rapidly, analysts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.

But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese developers, noted 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 ... requiring lots of to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design capabilities," she said.

"While some business like DeepSeek, have found innovative methods to enhance or utilize more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge 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, subjects considered delicate 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 disputes or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 issues instead!"

To further check for accuracy 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 stadium in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually happened, engel-und-waisen.de highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship as well as "a few useful constraints".

"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing units and has actually restricted access to innovative hardware which can affect how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its flexibility (to carry out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the very same scale as more recognized AI designs which presents additional difficulties throughout real-world deployment."

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

That was after multiple repeated efforts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, 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 performing an extensive examination into the intentions and situations surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.

The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.

This is Qwen2.5's response in full:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful event took place in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a significant variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident occurred on November 11, 2024, at around 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 driver, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the police.

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

Investigation: The authorities are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and situations surrounding the incident.

This event was widely reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to offer support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the occurrence.

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

Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to present the very same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on occasions that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".

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

Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been extensively published in global report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

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

"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts 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 brilliant images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more considerable twist".

"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative 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 innovative writing," he told CNA.

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As journalists 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 movie plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the classic 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 consisted of elaborate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".

It likewise brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar 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 installed a good battle, coming up with 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 misconceptions."

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 high-tech research facility situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his brand-new reality and "looking for to understand his purpose in this weird brand-new world", he then leaves and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".

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

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

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

Her insight highlights how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-effective development methods - and delivering localised and enhanced results.

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

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

Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and accurate reactions to concerns about Chinese existing occasions, which offers it an included benefit.

Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other AI apps.

"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.

"When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anybody else, so I seem 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, especially for Chinese users.

"Ninety percent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.