China Uses AI Exam Surveillance and Suspends Chatbot Features for 2025 Gaokao

13.35 Million Students Take Exams Under Tighter Security

China has introduced artificial intelligence surveillance in examination rooms and temporary restrictions on popular AI tools as 13.35 million students take the 2025 gaokao. The national college entrance examination runs from June 7 to June 10, with authorities seeking to prevent cheating while protecting access to an exam that helps determine university places and future opportunities.

As of June 10, the security effort reaches from examination room cameras to the technology companies whose chatbots can answer questions from photographs. Authorities are also targeting sellers who claim AI can predict examination questions, while local governments provide transport, counseling and accommodations for students with disabilities.

The 2025 candidate total is 70,000 lower than last year. Even with that decrease, the examination remains a vast logistical undertaking, bringing together students, families, schools, technology companies and local authorities across China.

The main dates are:

• June 7, 2025: The gaokao examination period begins.
• June 10, 2025: The examination period reaches its final day.

Why a University Entrance Exam Carries Such Weight

Chinese students rely heavily on their gaokao scores to secure university admission. That makes the examination a defining moment for many high school seniors, with years of preparation leading toward a result that can shape their next stage of education.

University admissions in countries such as the United States consider a range of factors, including essays, extracurricular activities and academic records accumulated over several years. In China, the central role of gaokao scores places particular pressure on performance during the examination itself.

Students from smaller cities or families with lower incomes often see the gaokao as a route to upward mobility. Its appeal as a social equalizer rests on the idea that examination performance can open opportunities beyond a student's immediate circumstances.

The Ministry of Education said more than 47 million students were enrolled in Chinese colleges and universities by 2023, reflecting the country's effort to expand access to higher education. The importance attached to individual gaokao results helps explain why preventing cheating has become such a prominent national concern: unfair assistance can affect an examination on which millions depend.

AI Cameras Watch Students and Exam Supervisors

Authorities have introduced AI surveillance in examination centers in several provinces, including Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong and Liaoning. The systems use computer vision and behavior recognition to monitor examination rooms in real time.

Computer vision allows software to examine camera images, while behavior recognition looks for movements or actions that match predefined patterns. During the gaokao, those patterns include whispering, looking around, passing objects and using prohibited devices.

In Benxi, Liaoning, every examination room has intelligent monitoring capable of matching up to 40 types of abnormal behavior. Its attention extends to exam supervisors, also known as proctors: the system can flag supervisors who appear inattentive, as well as possible misconduct by students.

Human supervisors review footage identified by the software to assess what happened and protect accuracy and fairness. Wang Tianlong, a recent examinee from Guangdong, described the respective roles of the technology and the people overseeing the examination:

AI only assists. Final decisions still rest with human exam supervisors.

The arrangement gives exam supervisors an additional way to identify activity requiring attention. Cameras and software monitor the room continuously, while people remain responsible for decisions about the behavior flagged.

Identity Checks and Wireless Monitoring Add More Barriers

Examination security also includes strict entry procedures intended to prevent impersonation. Facial recognition, fingerprinting and iris scans are among the identity checks being used to confirm that the person entering is the registered candidate.

Upgraded security gates can detect even small electronic devices. Those checks address the risk that a student could carry equipment into an examination room and use it to obtain outside assistance.

National radio authorities are also monitoring for unauthorized wireless signals to block attempts at communication with people outside examination centers. Together, identity checks, device screening, radio monitoring and room surveillance address different stages of a possible cheating attempt, from entry to communication during the test.

Major AI Services Restrict Exam Assistance

Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and Moonshot have temporarily disabled key AI functions during the gaokao period. The coordinated restrictions cover features such as photo recognition and question answering that could help someone obtain solutions while an examination is taking place.

Popular chatbots Qwen, Doubao, Yuanbao and Kimi display messages explaining that functions have been suspended to protect examination fairness. Photo recognition is a particular concern because it can let a user submit an image of a question instead of typing it out.

The suspensions last for the duration of the gaokao. They extend the security effort beyond examination centers by limiting access to tools that could provide answers if someone managed to reach them during a test.

The restrictions have been widely publicized, and their effects reach people who are not taking the examination. University students have complained that they cannot access the affected tools for unrelated assignments, showing how measures aimed at one examination can interrupt other academic work.

AI Prediction Claims Become a Target for Fraud Enforcement

Online sellers and private tutors have also been marketing mock examination papers as AI predictions. Some claim advanced models can forecast the actual gaokao questions, selling the materials at inflated prices to students and parents anxious about the result.

Education experts and AI platforms have dismissed those promises as marketing gimmicks. When asked to predict gaokao questions, leading AI services responded that the examination content is classified as a state secret and cannot be accessed.

Chen Zhiwen, a member of the National Education Examination Steering Committee, explained why practice materials may sometimes resemble questions that later appear in the examination:

It's not that AI or famous tutors have predicted the questions correctly, but that the gaokao papers follow a pattern.

His explanation places the similarity in the structure of the examination. Practice questions can reflect recurring patterns in how a subject is tested, which helps explain why a tutor or seller may later point to a resemblance between their materials and an actual paper.

Authorities have launched campaigns to investigate and remove illegal and misleading information connected with the gaokao. The targets include AI prediction scams, rumors, claims about leaked questions and organized cheating.

More Than 14,000 Students Receive Disability Accommodations

The Ministry of Education and local governments have paired tighter security with support for candidates facing the pressure of the examination. Measures include free transportation, psychological counseling and special arrangements for more than 14,000 students with disabilities.

Braille examination papers and separate examination rooms are among the accommodations provided for students with visual impairments. Those arrangements help candidates take part in the same admissions process while addressing needs that a standard printed paper or shared room may not meet.

Psychological counseling addresses another part of the examination experience. For students whose university prospects depend heavily on their scores, the pressure extends beyond understanding the subjects being tested to managing anxiety during an intensely watched national event.

Communities Adjust Traffic, Transport and Public Events

Local communities are changing everyday arrangements to help students arrive on time and sit their examinations in a calm environment. Traffic is being managed around examination centers, while quiet zones are being established nearby.

Performances and public events are being postponed to reduce disruption. In some cities, students can use free taxi rides, and medical support is available at examination sites.

Families, schools and local governments are participating in the wider effort. These practical measures address immediate problems that could interfere with a student's performance, including transport delays, noise and illness, alongside the separate work of preventing cheating.

Fairness, Privacy and the Reach of Exam Controls

China's 2025 gaokao places AI on both sides of examination security. Authorities are using it to identify possible misconduct, while technology companies are limiting AI functions that could supply unauthorized help.

The measures are widely seen as necessary to protect the integrity of the examination. They also bring privacy and the limits of surveillance into the discussion, because monitoring students' movements and checking their identities are now part of the effort to keep the process fair.

The role of human review is central to that arrangement. In the monitoring process described by Wang Tianlong, software identifies activity for attention and exam supervisors make the final decisions. For candidates, that places human judgment between an automated alert and a decision about their conduct.

China's approach contrasts with the United States, where examinations are less centrally controlled and there is no comparable nationwide suspension of AI tools. The gaokao brings a highly concentrated admissions event together with coordinated restrictions across major technology services.

The experience also shows how broad examination controls can affect different groups at once. Candidates receive tighter protections against cheating, students with disabilities receive accommodations, and university students doing unrelated work encounter temporary limits on tools they use. Security, access and the reach of technology restrictions are all part of the same examination period.

Key Points

• China's 2025 gaokao runs from June 7 to June 10, with 13.35 million candidates, 70,000 fewer than last year.
• AI surveillance in several provinces flags possible misconduct, with human supervisors reviewing footage and making final decisions.
• Entry screening includes identity checks and electronic device detection, supported by monitoring for unauthorized wireless signals.
• Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and Moonshot have temporarily restricted AI functions that could help answer examination questions.
• Authorities are targeting AI prediction scams, misleading information, rumors, leaked question claims and organized cheating.
• Support includes transport, counseling and accommodations for more than 14,000 students with disabilities.
• The measures seek to protect examination fairness while bringing privacy and the reach of surveillance into focus.