Major Chinese tech firms including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance have temporarily suspended AI features during the country's annual college entrance exams, a nationwide move aimed at curbing cheating in one of the world's most high-stakes academic assessments. More than 13.3 million students are sitting for the multi-day gaokao exams from June 7-10, which determine university placement and often shape career trajectories for years to come.
Bloomberg and local media report that leading generative AI platforms such as ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, Tencent's Yuanbao, DeepSeek, and Moonshot's Kimi have disabled core capabilities, including image recognition and question-answering functions, during exam hours.
Screenshots shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo show chatbots refusing to answer when prompted with test-style questions. Doubao, when asked to solve an academic problem, responded: "During the college entrance examination, according to relevant requirements, the question answering service will be suspended." A similar attempt on DeepSeek produced a message saying the platform's services were unavailable "to ensure fairness in the college entrance examination."
Yuanbao and Kimi issued parallel responses, citing exam-related restrictions. No companies issued public statements, and inquiries by The Guardian to the platforms went unanswered. Reports of these shutdowns have largely circulated via user-generated posts, with university students noting service disruptions to tools they use for studying and coursework.
"College entrance exam candidates, you are all shit," one user joked on Weibo after losing access to DeepSeek. "I can't use DeepSeek to upload pictures, I have to download ChatGPT again, I hope you all go to community college."
The AI shutdowns join a broader suite of anti-cheating measures deployed nationwide. According to the state-run Global Times, authorities in Jiangxi province are deploying surveillance technologies to monitor for "abnormal behaviours" during exams, including whispering and repeated eye movements. AI video analysis will be reviewed post-exam to detect irregularities, with punishments applied under national examination laws.
Additional security measures include biometric identification, signal jammers, and enhanced screening protocols for digital devices at exam entry points. State media also reported disruptions to regular civic activity to ensure testing runs smoothly, including delayed office openings, suspended performances, and dedicated traffic lanes for examinees in some urban areas.
The gaokao, considered a make-or-break moment for millions of students, remains central to China's education system and societal expectations.
