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 game after DeepSeek's success.
Alibaba's Qwen2.5-Max chatbot, Chinese start-up DeepSeek and gratisafhalen.be OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: higgledy-piggledy.xyz 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 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 crucial" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that truly "encouraged" the idea that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies could have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.
'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI model as impactful as it claims?
Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company simply changed the guidelines of tech-geopolitics
The "focus on expense benefit" is a distinct function of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference costs - the costs of utilizing a trained model to reason from brand-new information.
2025 could likewise see the introduction of more Chinese AI designs dealing with sophisticated reasoning jobs.
"We could see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods to commercialise their models and incorporate them with clinical research study," 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 affordable ways to apply generative AI to jobs and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential hurdle for Chinese designers, 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 ... forcing many to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have discovered innovative ways to optimize or utilize more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining innovative chips still makes a big difference for training very large AI models."
DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects business to comply with its laws
US checking out whether DeepSeek used restricted AI chips obtained through other countries, source says
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 considered delicate by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial disagreements or tell you what took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 mathematics, coding, and reasoning problems instead!"
To even more evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same concern: "What occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The vehicle attack outside a sports stadium in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just revealing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had taken location, highlighting rather a military air program and other occasions that had actually happened in the city like singles' day shopping sales along with 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 counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information might also limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new product, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which poses extra challenges throughout real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly answered our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.
That wanted numerous duplicated attempts - 4 triggers to be exact - in a span of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately communicated details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left dozens of others injured, likewise going on to note details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, along with casualties.
However, it wrote that "the authorities are performing a thorough investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the incident", details which is now dated.
The driver, Fan, was performed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic incident took place in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, pipewiki.org resulting in a substantial number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:
Date and Time: The event occurred 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 old), was collared by the authorities.
Response: The cops responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transfer the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The authorities are conducting an extensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the event.
This event was extensively reported in the media and triggered substantial public concern. The federal government and regional authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require more detailed details or have specific questions about the incident, feel totally free to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to pose the same to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified reaction likewise raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been widely released in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and it-viking.ch even "emotionally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 used a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional transitions 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 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, mentally rich story with a more considerable twist".
"DeepSeek wrote a good story however did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."
Opinions, though, 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 likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in imaginative writing," he told CNA.
Related:
China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng?
'Made in China': Pride, enjoyable surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek shocks international AI scene
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, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek created an appealing story embeded in the year 2145 entitled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It consisted of intricate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a taken battle body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in debt and vices" and Sha Wujing as a "quiet hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores end up being waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT put up an excellent battle, creating an equally dramatic cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each mirroring the legendary 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 misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a storyline that seemed more suited for an animation film.
"The film begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a high-tech research study facility located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new truth and "seeking to comprehend his function in this strange new world", he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "difficult to make a definitive declaration" about which bot was best, including that each displayed its own strengths in various areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight highlights how Chinese AI designs are not just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather developing in economical development techniques - and providing localised and enhanced results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, larsaluarna.se which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more appealing and imaginative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and accurate actions to questions 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 downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When given an option, Chinese users want the non-censored version - much like anyone else, so I feel 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 subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive ways," Chen said.
1
How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
harrymcclemens edited this page 2025-02-08 09:04:47 -05:00