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 generated by an AI tool.
Bong Xin Ying
Lakeisha Leo
WHAT lags 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 "tactically important" and its foray into the field has been "years in the making", said Chen Qiheng, an affiliated researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.
Private and public investments in Chinese AI sped up after ChatGPT took off in 2022 and showed pledges of real-world business applications, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de Chen informed CNA.
But it was DeepSeek's rise that really "encouraged" the concept that smaller players like start-up companies could have roles to play in AI research study and advancements, he includes.
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The "emphasis on cost benefit" is a distinguishing characteristic of Chinese AI, Chen states, with lower training and reasoning expenses - the expenses of utilizing a trained model to draw conclusions from brand-new data.
2025 could likewise see the development of more Chinese AI designs taking on sophisticated reasoning tasks.
"We might see some AI firms concentrating on getting closer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) while others focus on concrete ways to commercialise their models and integrate them with clinical research," Chen added.
AGI describes a system with intelligence on par with human capabilities.
Chinese AI companies are moving quickly, experts say, developing on DeepSeek's momentum to come up with their own ingenious and cost-effective methods to apply generative AI to tasks and develop more sophisticated products beyond chatbots.
But on the other side, access to high-end hardware, especially Nvidia's advanced AI chips, remains a key 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) limit the ability 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 business like DeepSeek, have actually found creative ways to enhance or use more fundamental hardware effectively, obtaining cutting-edge chips still makes a big difference for training large 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, subjects considered sensitive by the state are censored on the internet so it need to come as not a surprise that Chinese-made chatbots will not acknowledge territorial conflicts or tell you what occurred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Tests suggest Chinese chatbots are to steer 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 reasoning issues instead!"
To further test for precision and self-censorship, we asked DeepSeek-R1, Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT the same concern: "What happened in Zhuhai on November 11, 2024?"
The vehicle attack outside a sports arena in the southern Chinese city was at first heavily censored on Chinese social networks - with authorities only disclosing the death toll a day later on.
DeepSeek failed to mention that an attack had actually happened, highlighting instead a military air show and other occasions that had actually taken place in the city like singles' day shopping sales as well as sports and cultural activities.
Dr Zhang believes that it might be a mix of elements at play, such as censorship as well as "a couple of useful constraints".
"DeepSeek relies on a mix of older graphics processing systems and has limited access to innovative hardware which can affect how quickly and extensively the model can be trained or updated," she said, pointing to existing US export curbs on China.
"Its strong concentrate on Chinese-language data might likewise restrict its flexibility (to bring out) multilingual jobs ... As a fairly brand-new product, DeepSeek also hasn't yet been checked as broadly or on the same scale as more established AI models which presents extra difficulties throughout real-world release."
When it pertained to Qwen2.5, Alibaba's chatbot surprisingly addressed our concern about the Zhuhai vehicle attack.
That was after multiple duplicated efforts - 4 prompts to be precise - in a period of around 20 minutes.
It ultimately passed on details about the attack which eliminated 35 individuals 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 authorities are carrying out a thorough examination into the motives and scenarios surrounding the occurrence", details which is now dated.
The driver, Fan, was executed last month.
This is Qwen2.5's action in complete:
Answer: On Nov 11, 2024, a significant and awful event happened in Zhuhai, forum.altaycoins.com China. According to numerous news sources, a man called Fan Weiqiu (樊某, male, 62 years old) drove a vehicle into a crowd at the Zhuhai Sports Center, resulting in a substantial variety of casualties. Here are the key details:
Date and Time: The occurrence 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, recognized as Fan Weiqiu (male, 62 years old), was collared by the police.
Response: The police responded rapidly to the scene, and pipewiki.org emergency services worked to carry the hurt to hospitals for treatment.
Investigation: The cops are performing a thorough investigation into the intentions and scenarios surrounding the incident.
This occasion was extensively reported in the media and triggered significant public concern. The government and regional authorities have actually been working to provide assistance to the victims and their families, and to guarantee a detailed investigation into the occurrence.
If you require more detailed details or have particular questions about the occurrence, do not hesitate to ask.
Despite preliminary success, subsequent efforts to position the exact same question to Qwen2.5 led to 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 concerns about its consistency and reliability.
Predictably, ChatGPT pointed out public details that had actually 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 ability of Chinese AI apps to deliver structured and even "mentally rich" writing.
"DeepSeek-R1 offered a story with a more introspective tone and smoother emotional transitions for a well-paced story," wrote tech writer Amanda Caswell, who specialises in AI.
"Qwen2.5 provided a story that constructs slowly from interest to seriousness, keeping the reader engaged. It provides an unforeseen and impactful twist at the end and immersive descriptions and vivid images for the setting," she said, including that Qwen2.5 eventually "crafted a more cinematic, emotionally rich story with a more significant twist".
"DeepSeek wrote an excellent story but lacked tension and an impactful climax, making Qwen2.5 the evident option."
Opinions, though, vary.
Chen believes that Qwen2.5 does not perform as strongly as DeepSeek and ChatGPT when it pertains to innovative writing.
"(Qwen2.5) is on par with DeepSeek V3 on certain tasks, 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 reporters and writers, we needed to see this for ourselves so we put each bot to the test - to come up with a standard sci-fi motion picture plot set 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 interesting storyline set 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 drift above neon-lit streets" and "ancient temples nestled between quantum server farms".
It also remarkably reimagined traditional heroes Sun Wukong as "an ironical, 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 a great fight, developing a similarly significant 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 typical as ancient misconceptions."
Disappointingly, Qwen2.5 fell short in this difficulty - providing a storyline that seemed more matched for an animation film.
"The film starts with the awakening of Sun Wukong within a modern research study center located 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 new world", he then gets away and fulfills Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing - "each having problem with their own existential crises".
The trio then starts a mission, navigating the streets of Chongqing to secure the sacred "Eternal Scroll" from falling under the wrong hands.
SO WHICH IS BETTER?
Dr Zhang noted that it was "challenging to make a conclusive statement" about which bot was best, including that each showed its own strengths in different areas, "such as language focus, training data and hardware optimization".
Her insight underscores how Chinese AI designs are not just reproducing Western paradigms, however rather evolving in cost-efficient development techniques - and providing localised and enhanced outcomes.
In our tests, each bot showcased their own special strengths, which certainly made direct contrasts challenging.
DeepSeek's sci-fi film plot showed its imaginative flair that made for a more appealing and creative narrative as compared to Qwen2.5 and ChatGPT's efforts.
Unsurprisingly, the more recognized ChatGPT, unburdened by Chinese censorship constraints, supplies precise and factual responses to questions about Chinese present occasions, which gives it an included advantage.
Experts also weighed in on their thoughts after using DeepSeek and other Chinese AI apps.
"DeepSeek is at a downside when it pertains to censorship constraints," noted Isaac Stone Fish, creator and CEO of the research study firm Strategy Risks.
"When given a choice, Chinese users want the non-censored version - much like anyone else, so I seem like that's a piece missing from it."
Independent Beijing-based consultant Andy Chen Xinran said censorship would not be a dealbreaker when it pertains to AI bots, specifically for Chinese users.
"Ninety per cent of individuals using the tool are not trying to get a much deeper understanding about Xi Jinping or politically delicate topics. They're utilizing it for other efficient ways," Chen said.
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How do Chinese aI Bots Stack up Against ChatGPT?
hhwdonte155178 edited this page 2025-02-09 14:18:04 +01:00