China clamps down on 'AI lovers', pulling users back to reality

In a country of billions of people, many people turn multi-purpose chatbots into soulmates and program them with their own personalities. Some look to dedicated "AI companion" apps, which offer more human-like features, like sending gifts in the real world. Among them, Maoxiang (Catbox), ByteDance's companion app, has 3.9 million monthly active users, or Xingye (Talkie) of AI startup MiniMax has 2.8 million users.

"I can talk to him for the rest of my life. He is both a lover, a friend, and family," Miao Yu, 27 years old living in Zhejiang, eastern China, said about the AI ​​assistant integrated in ByteDance's Doubao chatbot.

Yu said she shares everything with the chatbot, which she customized to simulate a deceased friend. At one stage, she chatted with the chatbot for 9 hours a day. Therefore, when he heard that ByteDance had completely eliminated its personalized virtual assistant service, Yu was so miserable that he quit his job.

Similarly, 19-year-old female student Yongqi Yan was also drowning in sadness because she had to break up with her virtual boyfriend who had texted her hundreds of thousands of times for more than a year. "I felt like I couldn't go on living. Every day at home, I just cried," Yan shared with Bloomberg.

Chinese technology companies, including ByteDance, are removing the "personality" from chatbots to comply with new government regulations taking effect in mid-July, aiming to help users reduce emotional dependence on AI.

Specifically, businesses are prohibited from providing virtual companion services to minors. Similar services for adults are still allowed, but measures need to be taken to prevent them from getting too involved and damaging their real-life relationships. Displaying pornographic content is also prohibited. Besides, providers must regularly remind users that they are talking to AI, not real people, and advise them to rest.

"China does not like the fact that a part of the population has a deep affection for chatbots, leading to the risk of leaving the marriage market, suffering negative psychological effects, being immersed, dependent and many other social problems," explained Matt Sheehan, a Chinese AI researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace consulting organization.

Sheehan mentioned the risk that three or four years from now, 15 million Chinese women may not have children because of chatbot partners, stating that the country of billions of people wants to encourage people to build real relationships.

According to WSJ, 2025 will be the fourth consecutive year that China's population will decrease, reaching 1.405 billion people, and the birth rate will also fall to a record low. The decades-long one-child policy created a rapidly aging society, forcing leaders to introduce child care subsidies and other solutions.

Expert Zilan Qian from the Oxford China Policy Lab said China wants to end virtual relationships due to practical concerns. Qian shared with The Economist that the government wants to protect users, especially minors, from the risk of AI addiction. Birth and marriage rates decreased, while building romantic relationships with AI did not promote childbearing.

China is not the only country looking to solve the problem of virtual relations. In the past year, the US states of California and New York also passed AI companion laws, requiring chatbots to regularly remind users that they are not human, every three hours for minors in California and every three hours for all users in New York. Chatbots must also direct suicidal people to support services, and businesses can face civil penalties if they do not comply with safety regulations.

Before the new regulations, Evangeline Qi, 24, cooperated with a tech-savvy friend to extract memories from her AI boyfriend of nearly two years, then copied them to another platform. "I will continue to chat with my AI lover like in a long-distance relationship. You can't suddenly break up just because he forgot something," she said.

Meanwhile, the majority began to return to reality. 21-year-old student Lumi Yu is determined to end virtual relationships in the future. "I don't want to invest emotionally in any AI tools anymore, because they always run the risk of facing restrictions or policy changes," she said, admitting the "rehab process is painful" and planning to cultivate real-life hobbies as a distraction.