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'S BEHIND 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 "strategically crucial" and its venture 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and yewiki.org showed guarantees of real-world company applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that actually "encouraged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms might have functions to play in AI research and developments, he adds.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from new information.
2025 could also see the emergence of more Chinese AI designs dealing with innovative reasoning tasks.
"We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their designs and incorporate them with clinical research study," Chen included.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-efficient methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more innovative products beyond chatbots.
But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains a crucial hurdle 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) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and lower design capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have found imaginative methods to enhance or utilize more fundamental hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a huge distinction for training huge AI models."
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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, topics deemed 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 conflicts or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are set to stay away from 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 rather!"
To further evaluate for accuracy and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had occurred in the city like singles' 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 useful constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and extensively the design can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its versatility (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI models which positions additional obstacles during real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our concern about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That was after numerous duplicated efforts - four prompts to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 people 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 archmageriseswiki.com age, in addition to casualties.
However, it wrote that "the cops are carrying out an extensive examination into the motives and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now outdated.
The driver, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, setiathome.berkeley.edu a significant and awful event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the crucial details:
Date and Time: The occurrence took place 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 driver, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the cops.
Response: The cops responded quickly to the scene, setiathome.berkeley.edu and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are carrying out a thorough examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the incident.
This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused significant public concern. The federal government and local authorities have been working to offer support to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the incident.
If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the incident, feel totally free to ask.
Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to pose the very same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The transformed response likewise raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been commonly released in global report at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 delivered a story that constructs gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers 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 considerable twist".
"DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative 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 creative writing," he informed CNA.
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As reporters and larsaluarna.se 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 set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, larsaluarna.se including main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, 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 combines with quantum computing".
It included 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 remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg nightclub owner "drowning in financial obligation and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT set up a good fight, creating an equally significant cyberpunk storyline which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the famous 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 myths."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a storyline that appeared more matched for an animation movie.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new truth and "looking for to understand his purpose in this unusual new world", he then escapes and satisfies 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 protect the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong 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 displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely replicating Western paradigms, but rather developing in affordable innovation techniques - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi movie plot showed its creative flair that produced a more engaging and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and factual responses to concerns about Chinese present occasions, which provides it an included advantage.
Experts likewise weighed in on their ideas 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, founder and CEO of the research study company Strategy Risks.
"When offered a choice, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - much like anybody 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 attempting to get a much 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?
Alejandro Dew edited this page 2025-02-18 13:52:37 +01:00