12.9 Million Exam Takers: The First Summer When Their Fates Are Entrusted to AI

In the college entrance examination in 2026, a phenomenon that had never occurred before emerged.

Before the exam results were released, AI had already started vying for students.

Qianwen launched the College Entrance Examination Volunteer Filling Agent, claiming to be the first full - cycle intelligent agent for college entrance examination volunteer filling in China, and it's free. Quark upgraded its college entrance examination channel, opening all four major functions and serving college entrance examination users for the eighth consecutive year.

Tencent Yuanbao, in collaboration with QQ Browser, launched Yuanbao College Entrance Examination Pass, positioning it as a college entrance examination consultant agent. Baidu directly embedded the college entrance examination module into Wenxin Assistant. Although Doubao doesn't have a separate section, it can answer most questions about volunteer filling in the dialog box.

Almost all mainstream AI products are competing for the same entry point: College Entrance Examination Volunteer Filling.

On the surface, this is just a hot - topic marketing campaign. Every college entrance examination season, various Internet companies compete for traffic around students and parents.

However, if we look at a longer time - line, we'll find something more worthy of attention.

For many years, the biggest business in the college entrance examination has always been the information gap. In 2026, for the first time, the information gap began to become a public good.

This is the first time that AI has entered the life - decision - making scenarios of Chinese people on a large scale. It's also the first time that AI has started to influence the future choices of tens of millions of families behind 12.9 million examinees.

The real change in this year's college entrance examination doesn't happen inside the examination room. It happens outside the examination room.

1. Something that used to cost 10,000 yuan suddenly became free

The business of college entrance examination volunteer filling has been expanding in the past decade.

From the earliest teaching aids and score - line manuals to later volunteer planners, one - on - one consultations, and enrollment institutions. Against the backdrop of the transformation of the education and training industry and the fierce competition in civil service examinations, parents' fear of choosing the wrong major reached its peak, directly giving rise to a deformed and prosperous volunteer - filling market.

Now, the high - end volunteer - filling services in the market have long exceeded 10,000 yuan in price. One - on - one consultations often cost from 12,999 yuan to 18,999 yuan, and a 40 - minute single consultation costs 5,000 yuan. It's on a quota - rush system, and the schedules of popular teachers are full until three years later. Ordinary planners charge from 5,000 to 8,000 yuan. Newly opened similar institutions in county towns start at 3,000 to 5,000 yuan.

What are they selling? On the surface, it's consulting services, but in essence, it's the information gap.

They don't create admission quotas, nor can they help students score 50 more points. What they create is a cognitive advantage, such as which school may lower its admission score this year, which major has better future employment prospects, which city is more worth going to, and which volunteer combination can make the most of the scores without "wasting" them.

This information is not a secret.

However, for an 18 - year - old student who has never experienced volunteer filling and his parents, it's almost impossible to complete the collection, screening, judgment, and decision - making in just a few days. Thus, an industry centered around the information gap was born.

Today, AI is doing the same thing. Just for free.

Last year, Alibaba pioneered the form of "AI Volunteer Report", distributing nearly 13 million AI volunteer reports in total. After the upgrade this year, each report is 15 to 40 pages long, covering dozens of volunteer combination plans. Students input their province, subject selection, score, and ranking, and the system generates plans for "reaching for a higher - level school", "ensuring admission to a suitable school", and "guaranteeing admission to a lower - level school", along with admission trends, major analyses, and employment suggestions.

Two or three years ago, many families had to spend tens of thousands of yuan on these things. Today, all they need to do is open an app.

2. What AI eliminates is not planners

The impact of technology on the traditional consulting industry is far more rapid than expected.

In the past: You don't understand the rules, but I do. So you have to pay.

Today: AI masters the rules faster than anyone else, and it doesn't charge.

Yuanbao College Entrance Examination Pass accesses a more than ten - year - old admission database. Qianwen's Agent can identify students' interest directions, city preferences, career inclinations, and even MBTI personalities. Even two students from the same province, with the same score and subject selection, will get completely different recommendation plans, claiming to cover nearly 3,000 universities and more than 2,000 undergraduate majors, and the data is cross - verified from multiple sources.

They may not be perfect. But for the vast majority of students who have never received professional guidance in the past, there are a large number of first - generation college students from rural areas and county towns in China every year. Their parents have never left the county town in their lives and are simply unable to guide them in filling out their volunteers.

For this group of people, the emergence of AI has provided a bottom - line guarantee for basic information.

Families in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen naturally have more educational information. They know which majors are on the rise, which schools are undervalued, and which fields have more opportunities in the next decade.

Many families in county towns don't have such resources. With the same score, parents in big cities may help their children precisely avoid majors in sunset industries, while parents in county towns may let their children miss out on industry dividends just because a major sounds decent.

Thus, with the same score, students may embark on completely different life paths. After the college entrance examination, what really widens the gap is often not just the exam but also information.

The intervention of AI is essentially using the certainty of technology to counter the uncertainty brought by regions and social classes. For the first time this year, there is a new possibility that the information gap after the exam is also being leveled by AI.

This may be the moment closest to information equality in the Chinese education system over the years.

3. Why has the college entrance examination become a scenario that AI is eager to capture?

It's not because the college entrance examination has a large amount of traffic, but because the college entrance examination is naturally suitable for AI.

The data is extremely standardized. Nearly 3,000 universities across the country, thousands of majors, and the admission scores and rankings over the years are all publicly available and transparent. This is the data form that AI is best at handling.

The decision - making chain is extremely clear. The input is the score, ranking, subject selection, and preferences. The output is the volunteer form. The logic in the middle can be completely structured. This is exactly the type of task that an Agent is best at completing: given a goal, plan a path, and output a solution.

The demand is extremely rigid. After this year's college entrance examination, 12.9 million students must make an important decision that may affect the next few years in a very short time. The time is limited, the pressure is huge, and the margin for error is very low. Such a scenario naturally drives users to look for more efficient tools.

The combination of standardized data, a clear decision - making chain, and strong demand makes the college entrance examination one of the easiest real - world application scenarios for AI to succeed in China.

4. The real change is not that filling out the volunteer form has become easier

In the past, what did a student usually go through when filling out the volunteer form?

Asking teachers, teachers are familiar with the past experiences of their own schools. Asking parents, parents' knowledge often stays in their own era. Asking seniors, seniors can only represent their own experiences. Looking for institutions, they are expensive, and the levels vary.

Each information source is partial, limited, and biased.

For the first time, a new thing has emerged today. AI may not be perfect, but it has seen all the data. It won't recommend a certain school because of profit relationships, nor will it deny a certain major because of personal preferences. It can complete the comparison of plans in just a few dozen seconds, which used to take several days.

This is not just an upgrade of tools, but a reconstruction of cognitive resources.

For the first time, a student from a key high school in Shenzhen and a student from a county - town high school in Guizhou have the opportunity to get volunteer suggestions of nearly the same quality.

It's not because their scores are the same, but because AI doesn't distinguish who you are. As long as you input your score, the quality of the analysis it gives is the same.

In the past, connections determined information. Today, accessing AI means accessing information.

5. The first door for AI to enter Chinese families

In many people's understanding, writing code, generating pictures, and generating videos are the AI revolution.

However, for the vast majority of ordinary Chinese families, it's not. They don't write code, don't make videos, and even rarely contact the most cutting - edge AI products.

The college entrance examination is different.

Behind the 12.9 million examinees are tens of millions of parents. When AI starts to participate in the college entrance examination volunteer filling, it enters the most important, most sensitive, and error - intolerant decision - making scenario in Chinese families for the first time.

Once this door is opened, the following things will happen naturally. Today it's about choosing a university, tomorrow it may be about choosing a job, the day after tomorrow it may be about choosing a house, managing finances, planning a career, or even planning a life.

People hand over their trust in AI before and after the college entrance examination. This trust will seep into every major choice in their future like water, turning AI from a tool into an advisor.

The college entrance examination may be the starting point of this change.

6. When life is precisely calculated

AI has seen all the historical data and can use the coldest input - output ratio to calculate the employment rate, average salary, and industry lifespan of each major. The recommendations it gives must be rational, risk - free, and even utilitarian.

In AI's algorithm, "reaching for a higher - level school, ensuring admission to a suitable school, and guaranteeing admission to a lower - level school" is a precise mathematical problem. It will persuade a child with literary talent to study computer science or law because the latter has a wider employment scope. It will suggest a student who is obsessed with archaeology to choose financial management because the salary return cycle of this major is shorter.

At this time, what's left of life's choices and thinking?

If we completely follow AI's arrangements, we do avoid risks and exchange for the greatest probability of social average success. But have we also handed over something else at the same time, such as blindness, enthusiasm, reckless preference, and the freedom to make mistakes?

The information gap has been leveled. But will the diversity of life also be leveled by the algorithm?

AI can help us avoid misjudgments on the volunteer form, but it can't bear the long - term confusion in our lives for us. Facing a perfect volunteer form generated by the algorithm, the one who really needs to make the decision is still the young person standing at the crossroads of 18.

[Beyond the Page] Words:

Looking back many years later, people may not remember what the college entrance examination composition topic was in 2026, nor may they remember how difficult the last math question was.

But they may remember another thing.

This year, AI appeared on a college entrance examination volunteer form for the first time.

From that volunteer form, AI participated in the life choices of ordinary Chinese people for the first time.

In the past, people always regarded AI as a technology. It wasn't until it started to affect life that technology truly became a reality.

Perhaps what's really worth remembering is not how many decisions AI made for us, but whether we are still willing to take full responsibility for our own choices in this era when algorithms are getting smarter.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Beyond the Page", author: Ban Jun, published by 36Kr with authorization.