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)

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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 ending up being the world leader in AI by 2030.

China views AI as being “strategically 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 financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed promises of real-world service applications, Chen told CNA.

But it was DeepSeek’s rise that actually “encouraged” the idea that smaller sized players like start-up firms could have functions to play in AI research and developments, he adds.

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The “focus on cost advantage” is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and reasoning costs - the expenses of using a trained design to reason from new information.

2025 could likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs tackling innovative reasoning jobs.

“We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with scientific research,” Chen included.

AGI refers to a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.

Chinese AI business are moving quickly, experts say, building on DeepSeek’s momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective ways to use generative AI to jobs and establish advanced items beyond .

But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia’s innovative AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese developers, kept in mind 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 business … forcing numerous to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities,” she said.

“While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered imaginative ways to enhance or utilize more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training large 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 deemed delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it ought to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or inform you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Tests suggest 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 math, coding, and reasoning problems instead!”

To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same question: “What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?”

The vehicle attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.

DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually taken place, highlighting rather a military air program and other occasions that had happened in the city like singles’ day shopping sales along with sports and cultural activities.

Dr Zhang thinks that it may be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as “a couple of practical constraints”.

“DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing units and has restricted access to innovative hardware which can impact how rapidly and extensively the model can be trained or upgraded,” she said, pediascape.science pointing to existing US export curbs on China.

“Its strong focus on Chinese-language data might also limit its flexibility (to carry 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 recognized AI models which presents extra challenges throughout real-world deployment.”

When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba’s chatbot remarkably addressed our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.

That was after multiple repeated attempts - 4 triggers to be precise - in a span of around 20 minutes.

It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others hurt, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, as well as casualties.

However, it wrote that “the authorities are performing a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the incident”, details which is now dated.

The chauffeur, Fan, was executed last month.

This is Qwen2.5’s action completely:

Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and terrible event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:

Date and Time: The incident took place on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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 of ages), was apprehended by the authorities.

Response: The police responded quickly to the scene, and emergency situation services worked to carry the hurt to hospitals for treatment.

Investigation: The cops are carrying out a comprehensive examination into the motives and wiki.rolandradio.net scenarios surrounding the event.

This event was widely reported in the media and triggered substantial public issue. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.

If you require more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, feel free to ask.

Despite initial success, subsequent attempts to present 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 transformed response also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.

Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had been extensively published in international report at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.

WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?

Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even “mentally rich” writing.

“DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story,” composed tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.

“Qwen2.5 delivered a story that develops slowly from curiosity to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It uses an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting,” she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually “crafted a more cinematic, emotionally abundant story with a more significant twist”.

“DeepSeek composed a good story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious option.”

Opinions, however, differ.

Chen believes 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, however we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as strongly 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 standard sci-fi film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore impressive, Journey to the West.

True to form, DeepSeek created an engaging story set in the year 2145 entitled, “Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra” - which sees “a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing”.

It included sophisticated settings - smoggy skies “pierced by skyscrapers”, “holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets” and “ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms”.

It also brilliantly reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as “an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen battle 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, coming up with an equally significant cyberpunk story which similarly reimagined “a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring 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 myths.”

Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - delivering a story that appeared more matched for an animation movie.

“The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study center located in the heart of Chongqing,” it said, then going on to explain the following:

Realising his new reality and “looking for to comprehend his purpose in this unusual brand-new world”, he then gets away and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - “each having problem with their own existential crises”.

The trio then starts a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred “Eternal Scroll” from falling into the wrong hands.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Dr Zhang noted that it was “challenging to make a definitive declaration” about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different locations, “such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization”.

Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not simply replicating Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable innovation methods - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.

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

DeepSeek’s sci-fi film plot demonstrated its innovative flair that produced a more engaging and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT’s efforts.

Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and factual reactions to questions about Chinese present occasions, which gives it an included advantage.

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

“DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints,” noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.

“When offered an option, Chinese users want the non-censored variation - simply like anybody else, so I feel like that’s a piece missing from it.”

Independent Beijing-based consultant Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, particularly for Chinese users.

“Ninety percent of individuals using the tool are not attempting to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They’re utilizing it for other efficient means,” Chen said.