AI developers in China disable image recognition during national college entrance exams

AI chatbot developers in China have temporarily disabled image recognition features during the country’s college entrance exams, Bloomberg reports.

Users have reported issues with DeepSeek, Doubao, Yuanbao, Kimi, and Qwen. The companies have explained the decision as follows:

To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examinations, this function cannot be used during the test period.

The gaokao is considered one of the most important exams in a student’s life, as it determines university eligibility. In 2025, around 13.4 million students are taking the test.

Gaokao conditions are tightly controlled to ensure fairness and prevent cheating. According to ChinaDaily, some provinces are even using AI to monitor test-takers — identifying whispering, glancing around, copying, unusually fast or slow responses, and the use of banned items during the exam.