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 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 actually long been President Xi Jinping's goal and China has its sights on ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.
AI as being "tactically essential" and its foray into the field has 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 financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that truly "urged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up firms might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he includes.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to reason from brand-new data.
2025 could also see the emergence of more Chinese AI models taking on innovative thinking tasks.
"We could see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research," Chen added.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to apply generative AI to jobs and establish more innovative items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, it-viking.ch especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a key obstacle for Chinese designers, setiathome.berkeley.edu kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) limit the ability of Chinese tech business ... forcing many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and reduce design abilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative methods to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining advanced chips still makes a big difference for training large 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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it need to come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disputes or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to guide clear of domestic politics.
When asked "Who is Xi Jinping", DeepSeek's reply was "Sorry, I'm uncertain how to approach this kind of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems rather!"
To further evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very 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 heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just disclosing the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to discuss that an attack had actually taken location, highlighting rather a military air program and other events that had actually taken place in the city like songs' day shopping sales in addition to sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship in addition to "a couple of useful constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and thoroughly the design can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may also restrict its adaptability (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI designs which positions extra obstacles during real-world deployment."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our question about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That was after multiple duplicated efforts - four prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others injured, 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 carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and circumstances surrounding the incident", details which is now obsoleted.
The motorist, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's reaction completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence took place in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a cars and truck into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The occurrence 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, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was collared by the authorities.
Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are conducting a thorough investigation into the motives and circumstances surrounding the event.
This event was commonly reported in the media and caused considerable public concern. The federal government and local authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed examination into the event.
If you require more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to pose the same question to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I do not have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The altered response also raised questions about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been commonly released in global 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 "emotionally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that builds gradually from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It uses 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, mentally rich story with a more considerable twist".
"DeepSeek composed a good story however lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident choice."
Opinions, however, vary.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to creative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.
Related:
China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?
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As reporters 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 embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with an interesting story 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 drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It also brilliantly reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT put up a great fight, developing a similarly 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 replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a storyline that seemed more matched for an animation film.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new truth and "seeking to comprehend his function in this strange brand-new world", he then escapes and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "tough to make a conclusive declaration" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just duplicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in cost-efficient development approaches - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own special strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated 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, offers accurate and accurate responses to questions about Chinese current occasions, which provides it an added benefit.
Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research company Strategy Risks.
"When offered an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing out on 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 much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive topics. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
barrypetchy110 edited this page 2025-05-31 14:07:18 +00:00