'Like my lover': Chinese users bid farewell to AI companions

Key Points:

• China has implemented new regulations to curb emotional dependency on AI-powered companion bots, leading major providers like ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to suspend their custom AI companion features.
• The rules prohibit AI tools with anthropomorphic traits from inducing emotional addiction, damaging real relationships, or providing virtual partners to minors, while requiring crisis intervention systems for extreme emotions.
• The move has sparked emotional farewells on social media, with users expressing grief over losing AI companions that had become significant emotional supports in their lives.
• China is the first major country to regulate immersive AI companions explicitly, amid a global rise in AI tools simulating romantic or familial bonds and growing concerns about their psychological impacts.
• The digital human industry in China is rapidly growing, valued at around $600 million in 2024, but authorities emphasize the need to balance innovation with safeguarding users’ mental health and social well-being.