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 created by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT lags CHINA'S AI BOOM?
Transforming the nation into a tech superpower has actually long been President Xi Jinping's goal 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 been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an associated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed guarantees of real-world organization applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "encouraged" the concept that smaller players like start-up firms might have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
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The "focus on expense advantage" is an unique function of Chinese AI, setiathome.berkeley.edu Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of using a trained model to reason from new information.
2025 might also see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs tackling sophisticated reasoning tasks.
"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research study," Chen included.
AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI business are moving rapidly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential difficulty 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) restrict the capability of Chinese tech companies ... forcing many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and decrease model abilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative methods to enhance or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it need to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are configured 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"
To further check 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 greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting rather a military air program and other events that had taken place in the city like songs' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of aspects 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 advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the design can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise restrict its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI designs which poses extra difficulties during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.
That was after multiple repeated attempts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It eventually communicated details about the attack which killed 35 people and left dozens of others injured, kousokuwiki.org 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 cops are performing an extensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now obsoleted.
The driver, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's reaction in complete:
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 of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant variety of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The event took place 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 motorist, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the cops.
Response: The cops reacted quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to hospitals for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are performing a comprehensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the occurrence.
This occasion was widely reported in the media and triggered substantial public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to offer support to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed examination into the event.
If you need more detailed details or wiki.eqoarevival.com have specific concerns about the incident, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to posture the exact same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in 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 modified response also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had actually been extensively released in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so no surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a great story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, but 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 writers, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with an engaging story embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It consisted of fancy settings - smoggy skies "pierced by high-rise buildings", "holographic lanterns that drift 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 stolen battle 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 end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT installed an excellent battle, coming up with an equally significant 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 rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a story that seemed more fit for an animation film.
"The movie starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study center 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 function in this strange brand-new world", he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each fighting with their own existential crises".
The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "tough to make a conclusive declaration" 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 just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather progressing in cost-efficient development methods - and providing localised and enhanced results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi motion picture plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers accurate and factual responses to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which gives it an added advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When provided a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - simply like anyone else, so I seem 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 individuals utilizing the tool are not trying to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive ways," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
louisrey700788 edited this page 2025-06-02 21:12:17 +08:00