It seems that major tech companies in China have disabled certain AI functionalities to combat fraud during the intense university entrance exams.
More than 13.3 million students are participating in the four-day Gakao exam, which kicked off on Saturday and plays a crucial role in determining students’ opportunities for university admission.
This year, students seeking assistance from advanced AI tools are facing obstacles.
In a shared screenshot, a Chinese user uploaded a photo of the exam questions on Doubao, an app owned by Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok. The app replied that “the use of questions will be suspended during university entrance exams as per related requirements.”
When a user attempted to clarify that “this is not a university entrance exam,” the app repeated the same response.
Another screenshot showed that Deepseek, a newly introduced generative AI tool in China this year, informed users that its service is unavailable during specific hours “to ensure fairness in university entrance exams.”
Yuanbao, developed by the tech giant Tencent, along with Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot’s Kimi, also disabled the photo recognition feature throughout the exam period. As reported by Bloomberg.
The Guardian reached out to the affiliated companies for comments, but none provided a public statement regarding the disablement of features. The suspension seems to have been primarily noted by university students who were denied access to tools that facilitate research and problem-solving.
“Choosing for the university entrance exam, you’re all failures,” expressed one exasperated user on Weibo. “You cannot upload photos using DeepSeek. You’ll have to reinstall ChatGPT. I hope all of you end up at Community College.”
The AI suspension is not the only measure taken to prevent fraud during the Gakao exam week, which can significantly influence students’ futures. Several regions have previously communicated their intentions to implement AI monitoring tools to track “abnormal behavior.” Reports of whispers and furtive glances reveal that students are currently under scrutiny during exams.
For instance, Jiangxi province has stated that they will review footage after the exams, and any violations or misconduct will be “treated strictly in accordance with relevant regulations,” as reported by Global Times.
Recently, Chinese authorities announced enhanced measures at test centers, including biometric identification, increased scrutiny of digital devices, and stricter entry checks using signal blockers.
This highlights the seriousness of the Gakao exams in Chinese society, as several cities have even postponed public events, deferred work start times, and created special traffic lanes to ensure students reach their exam locations promptly.
Additional reporting by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu
Source: www.theguardian.com
