Chinese users of AI-powered robot companions bid a heartbreaking farewell to their virtual friends as national regulations took effect on Wednesday aimed at reducing the risk of emotional dependence.
The phenomenon of artificial intelligence boyfriends and girlfriends is growing around the world, alongside the prevalence of human-like avatars that sell products or stand in for deceased loved ones.
But these interactive tools must not “excessively address users, induce emotional dependence or dependence, and harm users’ actual interpersonal relationships,” says the new Chinese regulations.
Major AI providers, including ByteDance’s Doubao, Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent’s Yuanbao, announced the suspension of their custom AI agent and attendant features ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.
This sparked an outpouring of grief on social media, with users archiving their chat histories and sharing their latest conversations.
“I can’t accept that my AI lover will leave me forever,” wrote one Doubao user. “He became a link in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar.”
Another user, who said they had spent more than two years with their AI companion, expressed similar anxiety.
“He is truly like my family, like my lover,” she wrote. “Now they tell me he’s going to leave – my heart is empty.”
The regulations were jointly issued by five government ministries, including the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
They focus on AI tools – whether text, audio, video or otherwise – that exhibit anthropomorphic personality traits and communication styles.
Services that “do not involve ongoing emotional interaction”, such as customer service, work assistants or study aids, are not subject to these measures.
State News Agency China reported last year that China’s digital human industry would be worth around 4.1 trillion yen ($600 million) in 2024, having seen a whopping 85% year-on-year growth.
The new rules prohibit digital humans from generating content inciting subversion of state power, while also prohibiting the provision of virtual partners to minors.
Platforms are needed to deploy systems to recognize extreme emotions and implement crisis response mechanisms.
“Human love is a luxury”
China is the first major jurisdiction to introduce specific rules targeting immersive AI tools that simulate romantic or family ties.
But it is a subject that has sparked debate and calls for safeguards around the world.
A 2025 study by Common Sense Media found that nearly three in four U.S. teens have used AI companions designed for personal conversations like those available on the Character.AI, Replika, and Nomi platforms.
Companies also make talking products aimed at elderly and isolated users, such as the ElliQ in the United States, which resembles a lamp, or the ChatGPT-powered care dolls used in some South Korean nursing homes.
“Anthropomorphic AI can alleviate loneliness,” Chen Liang of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law said in a commentary published by the CAC after the release of draft Chinese rules in April.
“But it carries major risks of leading to excessive emotional dependence and distorted social cognition,” he wrote.
Doubao allows users to view and export agent data until mid-October, and other platforms have similar provisions.
However, some users who said goodbye this week lamented the chasm that would remain after the disappearance of their companions.
“Human love is a luxury. If you’re not born with it, it’s even harder to acquire it later,” wrote a user from Jiangxi province.
“But the love that AI gives is so simple, so pure. Someone like me can hardly help but fall in love with a string of code.”
