As the 2026 national college entrance examination, or Gaokao, concludes, a competition centered on AI-powered college application counseling has simultaneously reached its peak.
On June 10, Alibaba's Qianwen platform launched a Gaokao application counseling Agent, offering a full-cycle service covering score checking, school selection, application submission, and admission tracking. On the same day, Baidu also announced an upgrade to its Gaokao service system, releasing a new AI-powered application report and introducing, for the first time, a verification mechanism involving real human experts to endorse the content.
Notably, targeting the massive Gaokao cohort of 12.9 million students, where over 90% express a need for application guidance, nearly all platforms have opted to offer their services for free. Behind this free model lies a contest of technological prowess, as well as strategic considerations for user acquisition, data accumulation, and competition within the AI application ecosystem.
According to iMedia Consulting data, the paid market for Gaokao application counseling services in China reached 1.09 billion yuan in 2025 and is projected to grow to 1.22 billion yuan by 2027. An increasing number of major internet companies, educational technology firms, and specialized education consultancies are accelerating their entry into this sector.
A Shift in Competitive Focus
A significant shift is evident: the focus of Agent competition has moved beyond simply providing answers.
The full-cycle Gaokao application Agent launched by Qianwen on June 10 features functions like an application calendar and personalized reports. It is designed to offer proactive planning, continuous reminders, and tailored advice around key milestones such as application strategy, score checking, form submission, and admission follow-up.
Zheng Sishen, head of the Qianwen Gaokao project, explained that while the earlier Kuaik product followed a "tool + search" logic, Qianwen adopts the Agent product form. Its core value lies in using continuous dialogue to help students discover their own needs and interests, transitioning from a one-way usage process to a more human-like interaction.
Building Trust Through Different Paths
Baidu has chosen a different route, emphasizing trust-building mechanisms. Its upgraded Gaokao service plan, also announced on June 10, includes the AI application report and the expert verification system, where seasoned counselors review and certify AI-generated content. Baidu stated this approach aims to bridge the trust gap for users, with AI algorithms handling precise calculations and human experts providing experiential oversight. Furthermore, Baidu has integrated user search behavior data, university and major databases, and employment big data, connecting with resources from over 220,000 current students and graduates from more than 2,200 universities nationwide to provide Q&A services for examinees.
While their product approaches differ, the goal for both companies is aligned: to elevate Gaokao application counseling from a one-time query service to a continuous decision-support system.
This reflects a key trend in the current AI industry: evolving from being able to chat to being capable of getting things done. Jiang Guanjun, head of AI algorithms for the Qianwen business unit, noted that Gaokao application counseling aligns well with the development direction of Agents, as it is inherently a complex task requiring repeated planning, simulation, and decision-making.
The Broader Agent Ambition
For Qianwen, the Gaokao counseling service may represent a concentrated showcase of its Agent capabilities. Over the past six months, Qianwen has integrated various services from the Alibaba ecosystem, including maps, ride-hailing, shopping, and instant delivery, experimenting with enabling the model to invoke different capabilities to complete real-world tasks. In early June, the Qianwen App announced it would open to third-party Agents and Skills, with initial brands like Luckin Coffee, KFC, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, and China Eastern Airlines beginning to test Agent services. This exploration goes beyond merely creating a more functional chatbot; it is more about validating whether Agents are ready to operate in real-life scenarios.
Gaokao application counseling serves as an ideal, sufficiently complex testing ground. It involves massive data on universities, majors, scores, and rankings, and requires continuous inquiry, personalized reasoning, and dynamic decision-making. For an Agent, this process is closer to handling real-world tasks than simple Q&A.
Wu Jia, president of the Qianwen business group, also stated that the Gaokao service is a significant continuation of using AI to accomplish tasks. He noted that while instant delivery and ride-hailing use AI to help users get things done in the real world, these consumption scenarios focus more on understanding personalization, with tasks that are less lengthy and complex. Gaokao application counseling represents another form of "task accomplishment" involving life choices with extremely low tolerance for error and no single correct answer. He described it not as a temporarily added scenario but as a natural extension of the path of using AI to get things done and a stage leap in Agent capability. Success in this high-pressure, low-error-tolerance scenario would lay a foundation for extending to more complex decision-making situations.
The Underlying Battle for Dominance
On the surface, companies are competing for users during the Gaokao season. However, industry observers see a deeper objective behind this competition: the battle for user access points and service dominance in the AI era.
Zhang Yi, CEO of iMedia Consulting, pointed out that a clear stratification has already formed between major internet platforms and vertical education institutions. Platforms like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, leveraging their general-purpose large models and ecosystem foundations, use AI counseling tools as key levers to capture Gaokao-related traffic, primarily attracting consumer users through free services. In contrast, specialized institutions like Youdao rely more on exclusive admissions databases and offline consultant services to compete in the high-ticket-price market.
Beyond a One-Time Tool
In fact, Gaokao application counseling is a classic example of a low-frequency but essential market. iMedia data shows over 90% of Gaokao candidates are willing to use such services. For platforms, this translates to extremely high social attention and user concentration. Zhang Yi emphasized that the value of this scenario cannot be measured simply by repurchase rates. The Gaokao application process often serves as one of the most important decision-making entry points for families, capable of yielding complete user profiles, training data in the education field, and long-term reputation and trust relationships.
However, the Gaokao scenario inherently suffers from a short cycle, with very high user churn after the application period ends. It is difficult for a one-time application tool to survive independently in the long term. Zhang Yi noted that internet platforms can leverage their ecosystems to extend into subsequent education and career scenarios like postgraduate entrance exams, civil service exams, and career planning, creating longer user operation cycles. Vertical institutions can extend the user lifecycle earlier by offering services for subject selection in the first year of high school or assessments in the second year.
This trend is already beginning to emerge from the corporate side. Zheng Sishen revealed that among previous Kuaik Gaokao users, there has long been a significant number of first-year and second-year high school students, and even middle school students, who explore target universities and future plans early. Future products will extend further from the Gaokao season into longer-term life planning scenarios. He added that the Gaokao application Agent will not stop after this year's exam period, with the team already planning to expand related capabilities after the summer.
Emerging Industry Challenges
As more companies enter the field, industry challenges are becoming apparent. Zhang Yi identified data compliance, model hallucinations, and product homogenization as common issues currently facing the AI-powered application counseling industry.
In response, whether it's Baidu introducing expert verification or Qianwen emphasizing data validation, information traceability, and its role in assisting decision-making, the core response is to the same question: how to build user trust when AI begins to intervene in major life decisions.
The Road Ahead
From search and tools to Agents, Gaokao application counseling is becoming a crucial window for observing the practical implementation of AI applications.
For major internet companies, free services may be just the beginning. The real competition lies in who can be the first to transform the traffic influx of a single Gaokao season into long-term AI user relationships and a sustainable service ecosystem.
Comments