Students celebrate after taking the national university entrance exam in Tengchong, southwestern China’s Yunnan province, June 9, 2026. China’s national university entrance exam, also known as Gaokao, began on June 7 this year. Trials in some regions ended on Tuesday. (Photo: Xinhua)
As the university application season begins in China following the national university entrance exam, GaoArtificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a new advisor for millions of students and parents, with many students turning to AI tools for guidance on choosing colleges and majors. Chinese experts said that while AI can help narrow the digital divide, important life decisions still require careful human judgment.
The number of users of AI-powered university application tools in China is expected to exceed 92 million in 2026, according to data from iiMedia Research. Approximately 78.4 percent of test takers have used AI to search for colleges or plan their applications, and more than 60 percent of parents believe that AI-generated recommendations are an important reference during the application process.
From the Ministry of Education’s official AI mini-programs to free services rolled out by major internet companies, the threshold for using intelligent application tools continues to drop.
Around June 10th, China’s major internet platforms rapidly entered the university application advisory market. Alibaba’s Kwen has launched what it calls the country’s first full-cycle college application planning agent. Tencent Yuanbao collaborated with QQ Browser to deploy Yuanbao Gaokao Tong. Baidu added Gao Section to Wenxin Assistant. ByteDance’s Doubao has launched its own college application planning service. All services are available free of charge.
On June 13, the Ministry of Education upgraded and relaunched the “Sunshine Gaokao” application information service system, providing free one-stop public services to students and parents based on a large amount of reliable data on admission, student records, employment, and graduate tracking.
The system integrates actual past enrollment data from universities across China and provides application filtering services for regular undergraduate and professional school batches in 31 province-level regions. By entering information such as elective subjects and ranking, you can receive applications recommended by AI.
Mr. Wu Di, that kid won in 2026. Gaotold the Global Times that he is open to using AI for information gathering searches because it is free, fast, and helps explore a wide range of information options.
“I think this is very helpful, but I will continue to listen to a variety of voices, including teachers, people I know who work in the education field, and most importantly, the children themselves,” Wu said.
“Using AI to choose a college major will help students and their families bridge the digital divide,” veteran internet observer Liu Dingding told the Global Times. Although information is more accessible than ever, many families still struggle to understand college programs, admissions policies and career prospects, he said.
“AI is transforming the process by quickly analyzing vast amounts of data and generating personalized recommendations based on students’ academic performance, interests, and target universities,” Liu said.
But for Ms Chan, an IT worker, her children are preparing for it. Gaohas a different perspective. He told the Global Times on Sunday that he would not rely too heavily on AI when planning university entrance options, citing concerns about the illusion of AI and the digital divide that AI alone cannot bridge.
“Filling in Gao The application is too important to rely on AI. “I wouldn’t dare to do that, because the accuracy is still not as good as what research can provide. Unless families know little about universities and majors and don’t want to pay for professional consulting or trust such services, AI may only be useful for obtaining basic information for reference,” Zhang said.
“In fact, the experiences shared by real users on platforms like Xiaohongshu can sometimes be more accurate than the answers generated by AI. AI is still not fully trusted for such critical decisions,” he said. “For less important tasks, like planning a travel itinerary, AI is perfectly fine.”
Liu said AI is not perfect and can sometimes make errors or fabricate majors or programs. “Many families are still cautious about AI considering the long-term impact on university entrance exams,” Liu said. “While some people use it as an effective support tool, others still rely on consultants, teachers, and trusted acquaintances.”
As AI technology continues to advance, more Chinese people are adopting AI tools. According to official data, by December 2025, China will have 602 million generated AI users, an increase of 141.7% from the end of 2024. According to data from OpenRouter, the world’s largest AI model API aggregation platform, global large model usage reached 46.7 trillion tokens in the week from June 15th to 21st. In the same week, the usage of large-scale models in China reached 18.81 trillion tokens, ranking first in the world for eight consecutive weeks.
In the long term, AI-assisted college application planning will become an irreversible trend, Liu said. As AI models continue to evolve, they will provide high-quality guidance at little or no cost, further closing the information gap between families. Human consultants will continue to have a role, especially in personalized and premium advisory services, but AI should always be seen as an assistant, not a decision maker.
Liu emphasized that AI should support human decision-making, rather than replace it. “When it comes to major life decisions, the most important thing is still to follow your own judgment and desires,” Liu said.
