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 start-up DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT. (Photos: Reuters/Dado Ruvic, AFP/Sebastien Bozon)
This audio is created 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 goal 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 affiliated scientist at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public financial investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and revealed guarantees of real-world business applications, Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that actually "encouraged" the idea that smaller sized gamers like start-up firms could have roles to play in AI research and developments, he includes.
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The "emphasis on expense advantage" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and inference expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained design to reason from new data.
2025 could also see the development of more Chinese AI models taking on advanced reasoning tasks.
"We could see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to synthetic general intelligence (AGI) while others focus 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 abilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, building on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own innovative and cost-efficient methods to use generative AI to tasks and develop advanced items beyond chatbots.
But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, particularly Nvidia's sophisticated AI chips, remains a crucial obstacle for Chinese developers, noted 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 companies ... forcing many to rely on older or lower-performance options which can slow training and decrease model abilities," she said.
"While some companies like DeepSeek, have actually found creative methods to enhance or use more basic hardware efficiently, obtaining innovative chips still makes a huge 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, topics deemed sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it should come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or inform 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 kind of concern yet. Let's chat about mathematics, coding, and logic problems rather!"
To further check for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the exact same concern: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The cars and truck attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first greatly censored on Chinese social media - with authorities only divulging the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to point out that an attack had actually occurred, highlighting instead a show and other events 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 aspects at play, such as censorship as well as "a few practical constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to advanced hardware which can affect how rapidly and thoroughly the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language data may likewise limit its adaptability (to perform) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the very same scale as more established AI models which presents additional difficulties throughout real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot remarkably answered our question about the Zhuhai car attack.
That was after multiple repeated attempts - 4 triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately passed on details about the attack which killed 35 individuals and left dozens of others injured, likewise 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 composed that "the cops are carrying out a thorough examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the event", details which is now dated.
The chauffeur, hb9lc.org Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and tragic event occurred in Zhuhai, China. According to numerous news sources, a male named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable number of casualties. Here are the crucial details:
Date and Time: The incident happened on November 11, 2024, at roughly 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 chauffeur, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the authorities.
Response: The authorities responded quickly to the scene, and emergency services worked to carry the injured to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are performing a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the occurrence.
This occasion was widely reported in the media and caused significant public issue. The government and regional authorities have been working to supply assistance to the victims and their households, and trademarketclassifieds.com to ensure a detailed examination into the occurrence.
If you need more detailed details or have specific concerns about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent attempts to position the exact same concern to Qwen2.5 led to the censors back at work with the reply "I don't have specific details on events that occurred in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The transformed reaction also raised questions about its consistency and dependability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been extensively published in worldwide news reports at the time of the accident - so not a surprises there.
WHICH IS MORE CREATIVE?
Users have praised the capability of Chinese AI apps to provide structured and even "emotionally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more reflective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that builds gradually from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unexpected and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vibrant 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 lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent choice."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not carry out as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, however we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he informed CNA.
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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 film plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, featuring main characters from the traditional Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, DeepSeek came up with 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 sophisticated 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 "an ironical, self-aware AI housed in a stolen fight 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 fight, coming up with an equally significant cyberpunk story which likewise reimagined "a ragteam of cyber-enhanced misfits, each matching the legendary figures of Journey to the West".
"This is a world where AI deities rule, corporations replace emperors and cybernetic implants are as typical as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - delivering a story that appeared more suited for systemcheck-wiki.de an animation film.
"The motion picture begins with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study facility situated 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 strange brand-new world", he then leaves and meets Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time 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 "hard to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, adding that each displayed its own strengths in different locations, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI models are not merely duplicating Western paradigms, however rather developing in cost-effective innovation techniques - and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own special strengths, which certainly made direct comparisons challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot demonstrated its imaginative flair that made for a more engaging and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, offers precise and engel-und-waisen.de factual responses to questions about Chinese present events, which offers it an added advantage.
Experts likewise weighed in on their thoughts after utilizing 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 study company Strategy Risks.
"When offered a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - simply like anybody else, so I seem like that's a piece missing out on 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 attempting to get a deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're utilizing it for other productive means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
jaquelineqtn66 edited this page 2025-02-09 17:41:37 +08:00