On July 13, 2026, Chinese media Global Times, citing an article from the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, reported a rapid increase in families in China utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for selecting desired universities and majors after the national college entrance examination.

The article introduced Zhang (Jang), a ride-share driver in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, who utilized multiple domestic AI chatbots as "free consultants" when applying to his son's desired universities. For Zhang and his family, who had only known about universities in his home province of Shanxi, AI helped by listing universities and majors across the country that his son's grades qualified him for, bringing the previously overlooked option of attending a university in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, into consideration.

According to the article, such a trend is not limited to individual cases but is spreading nationwide. Data shows that over 14 million users utilized Alibaba's "Qianwen AI Gaokao Volunteer Agent" between the end of the "Gaokao" (national college entrance examination) in early June and June 24, while Tencent's (Tengxun) "Yuanbao Gaokao Tong" answered approximately 80 million questions, and Baidu's "AI Volunteer Assistant" was used by 15 million people.

The article also pointed out that this trend could impact China's university application consulting market. Previously, ordinary families like Zhang's had no choice but to rely on school teachers, relatives, or paid consultants, but with AI now able to provide a vast amount of information for free, the situation is changing.

According to market research firm iiMedia Research, the market size for paid university application consulting services is projected to reach 1.09 billion yuan (approximately 26 billion yen) by 2025 and expand to 1.22 billion yuan (approximately 29.1 billion yen) by 2027, but the widespread adoption of AI could significantly alter these figures.

Wu (Woo), a university application consultant in Guangzhou, stated that while the wave of AI is certainly affecting basic consulting services, the number of families seeking human consultants to interpret and judge AI-generated suggestions is actually increasing.

According to Wu, not all families equally benefit from AI; there's also the problem that a significant difference in results can arise between users who write detailed prompts and can discern the quality of answers, and those who merely input their child's scores. (Edited and translated by Kawashiri)