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 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 "tactically important" and its venture 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 investments in Chinese AI accelerated after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed promises of real-world business applications, Chen told CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "urged" the concept that smaller sized gamers like start-up companies might have functions to play in AI research study and developments, he includes.
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The "focus on expense benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the costs of using a trained design to reason from brand-new information.
2025 might likewise see the development of more Chinese AI models tackling sophisticated reasoning jobs.
"We might see some AI companies concentrating on getting closer to artificial basic intelligence (AGI) while others concentrate on concrete ways to commercialise their models and incorporate them with scientific research," Chen added.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human abilities.
Chinese AI business are moving quickly, analysts state, constructing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and economical ways to use generative AI to jobs and establish more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.
But on the other hand, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a crucial difficulty for Chinese designers, kept in mind Dr Marina Zhang, an associate professor larsaluarna.se at University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Australia-China Relations Institute.
"US export controls (still) limit the capability of Chinese tech companies ... requiring lots of to count on older or lower-performance alternatives which can slow training and minimize model capabilities," she said.
"While some business like DeepSeek, have discovered imaginative ways to enhance or utilize more fundamental 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, subjects considered delicate by the state are censored on the web so it should come as no surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests recommend Chinese chatbots are programmed to stay away from 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 math, coding, and logic issues rather!"
To further evaluate for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same question: "What happened 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 actually occurred, highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had occurred in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang thinks that it might be a mix of factors at play, such as censorship along with "a couple of useful constraints".
"DeepSeek depends on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has actually restricted access to advanced hardware which can affect how quickly and thoroughly the model can be trained or upgraded," she said, indicating existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong focus on Chinese-language information may also limit its versatility (to bring out) multilingual tasks ... As a fairly new item, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been evaluated as broadly or on the exact same scale as more established AI designs which poses additional obstacles during real-world implementation."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our question about the Zhuhai car attack.
That sought numerous repeated attempts - four triggers to be accurate - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It eventually relayed details about the attack which eliminated 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 wrote that "the police are conducting a thorough examination into the intentions and circumstances surrounding the occurrence", details which is now outdated.
The motorist, Fan, was performed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action completely:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a major and tragic occurrence happened in Zhuhai, China. According to several news sources, a guy named Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years of ages) drove an automobile into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a considerable variety of casualties. Here are the essential details:
Date and Time: The occurrence took place on November 11, 2024, bytes-the-dust.com at around 19:48 PM.
Location: Zhuhai Sports Center, in the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai.
Casualties: forum.pinoo.com.tr The attack resulted in 35 deaths and 43 injuries.
Perpetrator: The chauffeur, determined as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was apprehended by the cops.
Response: The authorities reacted rapidly to the scene, and emergency services worked to transport the hurt to healthcare facilities for treatment.
Investigation: The police are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the intentions and engel-und-waisen.de circumstances surrounding the event.
This occasion was commonly reported in the media and triggered considerable public concern. The federal government and local authorities have actually been working to offer assistance to the victims and their households, and to ensure a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require 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 took place in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024".
The transformed response also raised concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT cited public details that had been widely released in worldwide news reports 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 provide structured and even "mentally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 provided a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional shifts for a well-paced story," wrote tech author Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that develops gradually from interest to urgency, keeping the reader engaged. It offers an unanticipated 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 abundant story with a more substantial twist".
"DeepSeek composed a good story however lacked stress and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the apparent option."
Opinions, however, differ.
Chen thinks that Qwen2.5 does not perform as highly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to imaginative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain jobs, but we can also see that it is refraining from doing as highly as others in creative writing," he told CNA.
Related:
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As reporters 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 motion picture plot set in the futuristic megacity of Chongqing, including main characters from the timeless Chinese folklore epic, Journey to the West.
True to form, it-viking.ch DeepSeek created an engaging storyline 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 "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 "silent hulking android" from the Yangtze River, whose "memory cores become waterlogged and fragmented".
ChatGPT installed an excellent battle, developing a similarly significant cyberpunk story 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 change emperors and cybernetic implants are as common as ancient myths."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this challenge - providing a storyline that appeared more fit for an animation film.
"The motion picture starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a state-of-the-art research study facility located in the heart of Chongqing," it said, then going on to explain the following:
Realising his new reality and "seeking to understand his purpose in this weird new world", he then leaves and satisfies Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having a hard time with their own existential crises".
The trio then embarks on a quest, browsing the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling into the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang kept in mind that it was "challenging to make a definitive declaration" 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 highlights how Chinese AI models are not just reproducing Western paradigms, but rather evolving in affordable development techniques - and providing 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 showed its creative flair that produced a more interesting and imaginative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, provides precise and factual actions to questions about present events, 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 disadvantage when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research firm Strategy Risks.
"When provided an option, Chinese users desire the non-censored variation - similar to anyone else, so I seem 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, specifically for Chinese users.
"Ninety percent of people utilizing the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate subjects. They're using it for other productive means," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
anyac175396689 edited this page 2025-02-17 17:51:04 +01:00