Anxious Chinese students are trusting AI to help pick colleges and majors

After taking part in China’s grueling national college entrance exam, Guo Xinyan has three weeks to make what could be the most important decision of her life: which universities and programs she should apply to. The 18-year-old turned to an AI chatbot for help. On AlibabaiAlibabaAlibaba, founded in 1999 by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, is one of the most prominent global e-commerce companies that operates platforms like AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall.READ MORE’s chatbot Qwen, Guo entered her score, where she ranked in her home province of Shandong, her desired major (law, accounting, or finance), her budget for tuition (moderate), and where she wants to live (coastal cities). The bot generated a report with dozens of choices. “My family and I have no experience with college applications, so we had to rely on social media and AI,” Guo told Rest of World, adding that her parents had asked ByteDanceiByteDanceByteDance is a Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok with a successful e-commerce arm.READ MORE’s Doubao to suggest college programs for her. “There’s nothing in particular I want to study. We are just looking for good career prospects.” Every year, around 10 million Chinese students take the college entrance exam known as the gaokao. Students wait for the exam results and then have just a few weeks to factor the scores into their application decisions — some majors and programs are more competitive than others. The grades determine whether a student has a chance at landing in the prestigious universities and pursuing popular majors like business and engineering.