Students Are Renting AI Smart Glasses to Cheat on Exams — and a Rental Market Is Booming

A New Kind of Cheat Sheet

A quiet rental industry has emerged on Chinese secondhand platforms — not for luxury goods or electronics, but for AI-powered smart glasses used to cheat on exams. According to an investigation published March 27 by Rest of World, students across China are using glasses from brands like Rokid and Meta's Ray-Ban line to scan exam questions and receive real-time answers displayed directly on the lens.

The glasses, which are generally equipped with cameras and audio features and powered by large language models, can photograph text from an exam paper and project answers onto the display. Some models can be controlled with a small ring-shaped remote, making them even harder to detect, Rest of World reported.

One university student in Hebei province, identified by the pseudonym "Vivian" to speak freely, told Rest of World that she uses her Rokid AI glasses to pass difficult subjects and has rented them to classmates for their own tests. A Shenzhen-based businessman named Ke Changsi told Rest of World he has rented out Rokid and Quark glasses to more than 1,000 people over the past four months, at prices ranging from 40 yuan to 80 yuan ($6 to $12) per day depending on the model.

How Effective Are They?

Remarkably effective, according to at least one controlled test. Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology recently connected Rokid glasses with ChatGPT 5.2 and had a tester wear them during an exam. The tester scored in the top five in a class of over 100 students, Rest of World reported, citing assistant professor Zili Meng. The same research group is now developing systems to help teachers detect AI glasses during exams.

Ke, the rental businessman, advertised the glasses' exam capabilities on the social platform Xiaohongshu, showing how they could answer English and math questions, according to Rest of World. On secondhand marketplace Xianyu, dozens of merchants now offer AI glasses rentals.

Banned But Hard to Enforce

Major exams in China — including the national college entrance exam (gaokao) and civil service exams — explicitly ban smart glasses, Rest of World reported. But students told the outlet that most teachers don't recognize these devices during regular school exams, allowing wearers to use them undetected.

The enforcement challenge isn't unique to China. In the United States, the College Board prohibited students from wearing smart glasses during the SAT in February 2026, according to Inside Higher Ed. The ban came after at least one documented incident: a student in Tokyo was caught using smart glasses to post questions from a college entrance exam on the social media site X and received answers from other users, Inside Higher Ed reported.

As Gizmodo's James Pero noted in a March 30 analysis of the Rest of World findings, enforcement remains difficult even where bans exist because many smart glasses are designed to look like ordinary eyewear. While some models — like Meta's Ray-Ban glasses — have an obvious camera, others made by companies like Even Realities lack the telltale signs, featuring only a small display in the lens that is hard to see unless someone is specifically looking for it.

The Broader Smart Glasses Boom

The cheating phenomenon sits within a rapidly expanding global smart glasses market. According to consultancy IDC, cited by Rest of World, 2.5 million pairs of smart glasses were shipped to the Chinese market in 2025, accounting for 16.7% of the global shipment of 14.8 million units.

Chinese tech giants are racing to capture the market. Since 2025, Xiaomi, Alibaba, and electric-vehicle maker Li Auto have all launched smart glasses models, according to Rest of World. Features range from real-time calorie tracking for meals to virtual-reality movie viewing experiences. The Chinese government has also included smart glasses in a national subsidy program aimed at spurring consumer spending, offering 15% discounts on the sale price with a cap of 500 yuan ($73), according to Rest of World, citing a report from the South China Morning Post.

AI smart glasses generally range in price from $270 to more than $1,000, Rest of World reported — putting them out of casual reach for many students, which helps explain why a rental market has developed.

Not All Users Are Convinced

Despite the hype, early adopters report significant shortcomings. Smart glasses can weigh up to 50 grams — twice as much as regular glasses — and batteries often run out within a few hours, requiring mid-day charging, Rest of World reported.

Liu Zhigang, a university student in Zhejiang province who paid about 3,300 yuan ($465) for Rokid glasses in July, told Rest of World he rarely wears them now because they are too uncomfortable. In the summer, the device heats up and makes him sweat, he said, adding that most functions can be done just as easily with a smartphone.

An unnamed influencer in Hangzhou who tested Rokid glasses for a week as part of a paid sponsorship told Rest of World the glasses had no practical value for him. He tried navigating with them while driving and found it dangerous to switch focus between the road and the display.

Privacy Concerns Loom

Beyond academic integrity, smart glasses raise growing surveillance concerns. Most models include a blinking LED light that activates when the camera is recording, but Rest of World reported that online merchants are selling stickers specifically designed to cover up the indicator light — effectively turning the glasses into covert recording devices.

CNN reported in February 2026 that "manfluencers" have been using smart glasses to discreetly record people in public, according to Gizmodo's analysis. Courts in the U.S. have also begun grappling with the devices: at least one judge reported a witness wearing smart glasses to covertly receive coaching during testimony, Gizmodo reported.

As the technology improves and becomes cheaper, the gap between what these devices can do and what institutions can detect is likely to widen — a challenge that extends well beyond the classroom.