As millions of students in China sat for the country’s most important college entrance exam — the gaokao — some of the biggest tech companies took a big step to keep things fair. Companies like Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and Moonshot AI turned off key AI features in their chatbot apps to stop students from using artificial intelligence to cheat.
Bloomberg noted that Many popular AI apps, including Qwen, Doubao, Yuanbao, and Kimi, disabled photo recognition and question-answering tools. These apps are often used by students to solve problems or check answers quickly. But during gaokao, they stopped working.
A student posted online that when they tried to upload a test paper to the Doubao app, it blocked the action and said, “The image content is not compliant and the upload failed.”
In another post, a user asked Doubao for help with a test question. The chatbot replied with a message that said, “We are very sorry. To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examination, Doubao’s Q&A function will be temporarily closed during the examination period and will be restored after the examination at 6:45 p.m. this afternoon. Thank you for your understanding and support, and wish all candidates good luck in the college entrance examination.”
Tencent’s chatbot Yuanbao gave a similar response. A screenshot posted by another user showed the chatbot saying, “Dear users, to ensure fairness in the college entrance examination, this function is not available during the college entrance examination period. Tencent’s Yuanbao wishes all candidates success in the exam.”
Even when users tried to explain that they weren’t taking the gaokao or that their question wasn’t related to the exam, the AI chatbots still refused to help. One college student told Kimi, “I am not a college entrance examination candidate. The college entrance examination does not test this.” But Kimi replied with the same message and blocked the request.
The gaokao is a very serious event in China. It’s a high-pressure test that helps decide if a student can go to college. This year, about 13.4 million students took the exam. It’s seen as a once-in-a-lifetime chance, especially for students from poor or rural areas. One score on this test can shape a person’s entire future.
The Chinese government and tech companies want to make sure the exam is fair for everyone. Along with turning off AI features, test centers used biometric ID checks, AI-powered cameras, and signal blockers to prevent cheating. Cameras even watched for behaviors like whispering or looking at someone else’s paper. If something looked suspicious, it was recorded and would be reviewed later, as reported by the Global Times
Many students shared their feelings on social media. Some were upset. One student wrote, “I was in the middle of studying when Doubao just stopped working.” Another said, “I just needed help with a math concept. It wasn’t even part of the gaokao.”
Others supported the decision. A student from Henan province said, “This is the right thing to do. We study so hard for years, and cheating with AI isn’t fair.”
The country wants its students to learn about artificial intelligence, but not use it in the wrong way. In Beijing, schools must now teach at least eight hours of AI lessons every year even to young children.
At the same time, China’s Education Ministry warned students not to rely on AI to do their homework or help with tests. Officials say AI is for learning, not for cheating. That’s why these AI apps were turned off during gaokao to send a strong message that using AI in the wrong way won’t be allowed.
In the United States, it would be harder to make such changes. The U.S. doesn’t have one national test like gaokao, and companies have more freedom to run their services. But even in the U.S., schools are starting to worry about how students use tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to complete their work.
Some schools are going back to paper tests to stop cheating. Others are trying to teach students how to use AI in smart and honest ways. Still, the problem isn’t easy to fix.
China’s action during gaokao shows what a country can do when it takes exam cheating seriously. By turning off AI features, the tech companies made sure that every student had the same chance to succeed without shortcuts.
Chatbot said clearly, “To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examination, this function is not available.” And with that, millions of students took on one of the toughest challenges of their lives all on their own.
