During China’s rigorous gaokao national college entrance exams from June 7 to June 10, 2025, over 13.3 million students participated in four days of intense testing. To safeguard academic integrity, leading domestic tech firms—Alibaba (Qwen), ByteDance (Doubao), Tencent (Yuanbao), and Moonshot (Kimi)—intentionally disabled AI-driven features, including photo recognition and question-answering tools, during official exam hours
📱 Why This Matters
The gaokao holds immense weight in Chinese students’ lives—universities, scholarships, and even careers are heavily influenced by the results. With AI’s rapid growth, features like scanning questions or getting instant answers posed a threat to fairness. Facing such concerns, these companies quietly greyed out sensitive functions, reinforcing traditional exam rules like banning phones, calculators, and laptops
🛡️ How It Was Done
- Selective Disabling of Functions
Apps like Doubao and Yuanbao displayed messages like, “Function unavailable to ensure fairness during college entrance exams” when users attempted image uploads - No Public Announcements
These suspensions were not officially publicized; students flagged them on platforms such as Weibo and Rednote - Government-Backed Measures
Alongside tech interventions, authorities enforced biometric verification, signal jammers, drone and AI surveillance, and strict penalties for cheating—all part of a layered defense - Rooted in Policy
In May, China’s Ministry of Education warned against using AI to gain “shortcuts” in exams, reinforcing the stance that AI is meant to support learning, not replace it
🌍 Broader Implications
This move in China mirrors a global trend: countries like the U.S. are responding with traditional paper tests and lockdown browsers to combat AI-facilitated cheating. It underscores a key tension in modern education: balancing the integration of AI in learning with preserving test integrity.
🧭 What Comes Next?
- Post-exam AI resumption: These tools were reactivated after exam hours, signifying that the ban was temporary and targeted
- Future of AI education: China continues to roll out AI curricula—from elementary to university levels—but emphasizes responsible use businessinsider.com.
- Global dialog: The balance between harnessing AI for learning and preventing misuse will remain a hot topic in education and policy-making.
🧠 Takeaway
China shuts down AI tools during exams to prevent cheating—a localized intervention demonstrating how tech giants and government authorities can collaborate to preserve fairness in high-stakes testing. While AI promises to revolutionize learning, its unregulated use during exams risks undermining core values of merit and fairness.
