China's biggest exam season has turned a headline AI feature into a compliance risk. Ahead of the June 7 gaokao, when about 13.3 million students were expected to sit the national college entrance exam, Doubao, Tencent Yuanbao, Baidu Wenxin, Alibaba Qwen, Kimi and DeepSeek all limited functions that could help answer live exam questions.
The restrictions followed the same pattern: image-based problem solving, paper recognition, science-question explanations and gaokao essay writing were paused. Doubao told users it would not help solve exam papers, draft in-room essays or analyze answers while the exam was under way, while pre-exam study and post-exam review remained available.
The move shows how exam security is expanding from phones and notes to generative AI. Schools and testing sites are already adding facial recognition, signal jammers and AI-enabled cameras; platform-side feature shutdowns now sit beside those measures as another line of defense.
Once the exam window closes, the tools can come back. But the lesson is likely to last longer: if AI is capable enough to solve photographed questions and draft essays on demand, it has become part of the cheating threat model, not just a study aid.
Sources: IT Home, Jiemian News, BigGo News / TechSpot, CocoLoop.