China cracks down on ‘AI prediction’ scams ahead of university entrance exams

The Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down heavily on scammers targeting the national college entrance examination, especially those who claim that artificial intelligence can be used to predict the real questions.

The Chinese Ministry of Education, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security jointly announced a campaign to investigate and clean up “illegal and harmful information” relating to the exams on Friday.

Known as the gaokao, the exam, which runs from June 7 to June 10 this year, can make or break a young person’s future since their scores largely determine if and where they can attend university and what they can study.

More than 13.3 million people will take the test this year, according to education ministry figures, and many will have been preparing using mock papers and the previous years’ exams.

But given the high stakes and the cutthroat nature of the competition, the temptation to seek an advantage, or even cheat, will always be there – and there is no shortage of those hoping to profit from that.

Mock papers, which the sellers claim used artificial intelligence to better predict the actual questions, are selling online for inflated prices, according to media reports.

Some social media accounts and private tutors are also claiming access to “top secret” information sourced from teachers who help set the papers, according to Friday’s government announcement.

“Some even used big AI models to predict the questions as a gimmick. The relevant information was exaggerated to attract traffic, in order to induce candidates and parents to buy simulated test questions and reference materials at high prices,” the statement said.

  

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