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 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 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 "strategically important" and its foray 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 investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT removed in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world service applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller sized players like start-up companies might have roles to play in AI research and developments, he includes.
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The "focus on cost benefit" is a distinctive feature of Chinese AI, Chen says, with lower training and inference expenses - the costs of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new data.
2025 might also see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling innovative thinking jobs.
"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research," Chen included.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and affordable ways to use generative AI to tasks and establish more sophisticated items beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains an essential difficulty for Chinese designers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate teacher at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) restrict the capability of Chinese tech business ... requiring numerous to rely on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and decrease design capabilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to enhance or use more standard hardware effectively, obtaining advanced 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 considered 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 disputes or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend 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 type of question yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic issues instead!"
To further evaluate for accuracy and self-censorship, wavedream.wiki we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the very same concern: "What took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The automobile attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was initially heavily censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later.
DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had occurred, 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 might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship in addition to "a couple of practical constraints".
"DeepSeek counts on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to cutting-edge hardware which can impact how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language information may likewise restrict its adaptability (to carry out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI models which poses additional difficulties during real-world deployment."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably addressed our question about the Zhuhai automobile attack.
That was after multiple repeated attempts - four prompts to be exact - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals and left lots of others hurt, also going on to list details like the date and time, details about the assailant including his name and age, in addition to casualties.
However, it wrote that "the cops are carrying out an extensive investigation into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the event", details which is now dated.
The driver, Fan, was carried out last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to multiple news sources, a guy called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The occurrence happened on November 11, 2024, at roughly 19:48 PM.
Location: forum.altaycoins.com 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 nabbed by the cops.
Response: The cops responded rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and ratemywifey.com circumstances surrounding the event.
This occasion was commonly reported in the media and caused substantial public issue. The government and local authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their families, and to make sure a detailed investigation into the incident.
If you need more detailed details or have particular questions about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to posture the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to 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 modified action also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT mentioned public details that had actually been commonly released in worldwide report at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have actually praised the ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective 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 builds gradually from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant imagery for the setting," she said, adding that Qwen2.5 ultimately "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek composed a good story but did not have tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."
Opinions, however, vary.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can likewise see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in innovative writing," he told CNA.
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As journalists and authors, we had to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a fundamental sci-fi film plot embeded in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the classic Chinese folklore legendary, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek developed an interesting story embeded in the year 2145 titled, "Neon Pilgrimage: The Silicon Sutra" - which sees "a future where Buddhism combines with quantum computing".
It consisted of elaborate settings - smoggy skies "pierced by skyscrapers", "holographic lanterns that float above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled in between quantum server farms".
It likewise remarkably reimagined standard heroes Sun Wukong as "a sarcastic, self-aware AI housed in a stolen combat body", Zhu Bajie as a cyborg bar owner "drowning in financial obligation 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 remarkable cyberpunk storyline which similarly 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 typical as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a story that seemed more fit for an animation movie.
"The movie 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 brand-new reality and "looking for to understand his purpose in this unusual new world", he then gets away and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each battling with their own existential crises".
The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to safeguard the spiritual "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the incorrect hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "hard to make a definitive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training information and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not simply duplicating Western paradigms, but rather progressing in affordable development and providing localised and enhanced results.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own unique strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot showed its innovative flair that made for a more interesting and creative story as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies accurate and factual reactions to concerns about Chinese current occasions, which offers it an added advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their ideas after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a drawback when it pertains to censorship constraints," kept in mind Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.
"When offered an option, 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 specialist Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, particularly for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of people using the tool are not attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically sensitive subjects. They're using it for other productive methods," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
kinadurant0257 edited this page 2025-02-27 23:25:15 +08:00