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 nation into a tech superpower has long been President Xi Jinping's objective and China has its sights on becoming the world leader in AI by 2030.
China views AI as being "tactically crucial" and its foray into the field has actually 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 removed in 2022 and revealed pledges of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's increase that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller players like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research study and developments, he adds.
'A lot is up in the air': Is Chinese company DeepSeek's AI design as impactful as it claims?
Commentary: DeepSeek - how a Chinese AI company just changed the rules of tech-geopolitics
The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinct feature of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference costs - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to draw conclusions from brand-new data.
2025 could likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated reasoning jobs.
"We might see some AI companies focusing on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete methods 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 companies are moving rapidly, analysts state, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-effective ways to use generative AI to tasks and establish advanced products beyond chatbots.
But on the flip side, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's innovative AI chips, remains an essential difficulty 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) restrict the ability of Chinese tech companies ... forcing lots of to depend on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually discovered creative ways to optimize or use more standard hardware efficiently, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference for training large AI designs."
DeepSeek-Nvidia chips: Singapore says it expects companies to comply with its laws
US looking into whether DeepSeek utilized restricted AI chips obtained through other countries, source states
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 sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it must come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are programmed 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 question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues rather!"
To further check 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 automobile attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities just divulging the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had happened, highlighting rather a military air show and other events that had actually 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 factors at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually limited access to cutting-edge hardware which can affect how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information might also restrict its versatility (to carry out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek likewise hasn't yet been tested as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI designs which positions additional challenges throughout real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our question about the Zhuhai cars and truck attack.
That wanted several duplicated attempts - 4 prompts to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 people and left lots 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 composed that "the cops are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.
The chauffeur, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's response completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and terrible event happened in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a car into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, leading to a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The event happened on November 11, 2024, at approximately 19:48 PM.
Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.
Casualties: The attack led to 35 deaths and 43 injuries.
Perpetrator: The motorist, pipewiki.org determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years of ages), was apprehended by the authorities.
Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to hospitals for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the motives and situations surrounding the event.
This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The government and local authorities have been working to supply support to the victims and their families, and to make sure a detailed examination into the occurrence.
If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, wiki.lafabriquedelalogistique.fr do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to posture the very same concern to Qwen2.5 resulted in the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have particular details on events that happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The modified response likewise raised questions about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had been extensively in international news reports at the time of the mishap - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "mentally abundant" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother psychological shifts for a well-paced story," composed tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops slowly from curiosity to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and brilliant imagery for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek composed a great story but did not have stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the obvious choice."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and setiathome.berkeley.edu ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative 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 innovative writing," he told CNA.
Related:
China's brand-new face of AI: Who is DeepSeek creator Liang Wenfeng?
'Made in China': Pride, enjoyable surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek shocks international AI scene
As journalists and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi motion picture plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek created an engaging storyline set in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism merges with quantum computing".
It included elaborate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined conventional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a taken fight body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg club 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 good fight, creating a similarly dramatic cyberpunk storyline which similarly reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the famous 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 obstacle - providing a story that seemed more fit for an animation movie.
"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study center situated in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his brand-new reality and "seeking to understand his function in this odd brand-new world", he then leaves and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each dealing with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "difficult to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not just duplicating Western paradigms, it-viking.ch however rather developing in economical development approaches - and delivering localised and improved outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own distinct strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its innovative flair that made for a more interesting and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more established ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides accurate and factual responses to concerns about Chinese existing events, which offers it an included benefit.
Experts also weighed in on their thoughts after utilizing DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When given a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - similar to anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."
Independent Beijing-based specialist 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 using it for other productive methods," Chen said.
1
How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
tamikabaldwin2 edited this page 2025-03-01 09:22:14 +08:00