Over 13M students and no AI: China bans help from chatbots during exam hours

China has ensured that popular AI chatbots aren’t used in high-stakes exams and has disabled AI tools until exam hours are over.

During China’s most important college entrance exam season, the government is taking no chances on students willing to use AI to cheat. Popular chatbots like Alibaba’s Qwen, Tencent’s Yuanbao, and Moonshot’s Kimi have temporarily disabled their photo-recognition features during exam hours, as reported by Bloomberg.

“To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examinations, this function cannot be used during the test period” – is what chatbots reply during exam hours from June 7th-10th.

These exams, called gaokao, define the future for millions of students each year. There’s no holistic admissions system like in the US: no essays, no extracurriculars – just this one exam. For many students, especially those from rural or less privileged backgrounds, it’s the only shot at a top university and a different life.

China’s Ministry of Education recently made it clear: while AI education is encouraged, AI-generated content isn’t acceptable for homework or tests. With about 13.4 million students sitting for this year’s gaokao, it’s no surprise the government is locking down digital tools to keep things fair.