Alibaba, Tencent suspend AI features during China college exams

AI chatbots in China, including Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent’s Yuanbao, have suspended features like picture recognition during the annual gaokao college entrance examinations from June 7 to 10.

The gaokao, China’s crucial national exam for university admission, is taken by millions of students each year.

This temporary measure aims to prevent cheating and ensure fairness during the tests.

Other platforms, such as Moonshot’s Kimi, have also disabled similar functions.

ByteDance’s Doubao continues to offer photo recognition but will not process images of test papers due to compliance issues.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ China’s dual approach to AI: advancing education while enforcing ethical boundaries

The temporary freezing of AI tools during gaokao reflects China’s balanced strategy in AI governance, promoting innovation while establishing clear guardrails.

China is implementing mandatory AI education for all primary and secondary students by September 2025, with at least eight hours annually devoted to AI concepts, applications, and ethics 1.

This educational push comes alongside comprehensive AI regulations where China has emerged as a pioneer, with detailed binding rules covering applications like recommendation algorithms and deep synthesis 2.

The education ministry has explicitly addressed AI in academics, stating that while schools should cultivate AI talent from a young age, students must not use AI-generated content in homework and tests 1.

This regulatory approach demonstrates how China is navigating the tension between technological advancement and maintaining academic integrity, reflecting a strategic balance that aims to develop AI capabilities while preventing misuse.

2️⃣ The gaokao’s outsized social impact creates powerful incentives for monitoring and control

The extreme measures to prevent AI-enabled cheating during gaokao reflect the exam’s unique position as a social mobility mechanism in China.

Unlike the U.S. system where students build applications through years of academic records, standardized tests, and essays, the gaokao often serves as the singular pathway to university admission for approximately 13.4 million Chinese students annually.