AI Tools Disabled Across China To Keep Students From Cheating During Exams

The Chinese AI tools, Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent’s Yuanbao, disabled their photo recognition features as a temporary measure to prevent students from cheating during the national gaokao college entrance exams.

Some of China’s most popular AI tools, including Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent’s Yuanbao, have temporarily shut down key features, as first reported by Bloomberg. These features include photo recognition to stop students from cheating during the country’s high-stakes college entrance exams, known as the gaokao.

The gaokao, which takes place from June 7 to June 10, stands as the most crucial examination for Chinese students throughout their academic journey. The annual test attracts 13.4 million students, noted Bloomberg.

The exam determines whether a teenager will secure admission to a prestigious university or must spend another year in high school. The gaokao represents the sole opportunity for numerous students from small towns and low-income families to move forward in their lives, says Bloomberg.

The photo-scanning functions of Tencent’s Yuanbao and Moonshot’s Kimi became unavailable to users during examination periods. Bloomberg reports that when users tried to access them, the chatbots replied:
“To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examinations, this function cannot be used during the test period.”

The photo-scanning feature of Alibaba’s Qwen remained accessible to users, yet the system refused to process test images during examination hours. ByteDance’s chatbot Doubao responded to a photo of an exam by saying the image was “not in compliance with rules,” as reported by Bloomberg.

The government has implemented more stringent regulations to monitor the exams. Students are prohibited from bringing phones and devices into exam halls where the gaokao takes place, says Bloomberg. The recent rise of AI tools, which solve complex problems from images, has created fresh concerns about digital cheating.

Bloomberg reports that the Chinese education ministry issued a warning to schools in May about preventing students from using AI-generated content in their homework assignments and tests. Bloomberg notes authorities simultaneously promoted the development of AI competencies among young students.

The Chinese examination process operates differently from the American system, which uses grades along with essays and activities for college admission decisions. The Chinese educational system places such importance on this single test that it determines students’ future paths, which makes fairness and AI control essential national priorities.