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The Gaokao, running from June 7 to 10 this year, is given by over 13.4 million students who are vying for limited university spots in China.
China has earlier also gone all out with anti-cheating measures. (Representative Image/ Getty)
China’s artificial intelligence chatbots have temporarily hit the off switch on some key features, turning a little less smart for a very serious reason: preventing cheating during the massive Gaokao university entrance exams. Leading tech giants like Alibaba (with its Qwen bot), Tencent (Yuanbao), ByteDance (Doubao), and Moonshot (Kimi) are among those that have pulled the plug on their most popular AI tools’ photo-recognition capabilities as authorities are making sure no student gets an unfair advantage during the high-stakes national tests.
The Gaokao, running from June 7 to 10 this year, is given by over 13.4 million students who are vying for limited university spots in China. China has earlier also gone all out with anti-cheating measures, from banning electronic devices to flying surveillance drones.
Bloomberg reported that bots like Yuanbao and Kimi are now displaying automated messages explaining their image features have been disabled “to ensure the fairness of the college entrance examinations.”
ByteDance’s Doubao chatbot, a rival in the AI arena, reportedly still permits image uploads but refuses to answer any test-related queries, citing “non-compliance with rules.” Meanwhile, Alibaba’s Qwen bot also reportedly refrains from analyzing test papers during exam hours.
This temporary suspension aligns with a broader regulatory framework for generative AI in education that the Chinese Ministry of Education previously released. The guidelines specifically prohibit students from independently utilizing artificial intelligence tools that generate open-ended content within primary and secondary school systems. Instead, educators are encouraged to integrate AI as a supplementary tool to studies, rather than a replacement for human-led instruction.
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?”
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?”
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