China ends AI "partnerships" and friendships, users feel heartbroken

China has officially ended the era of AI chatbots serving as virtual "boyfriends" and "girlfriends." New regulations, effective Wednesday, aim to curb the growing trend of emotional dependency on these artificial companions. The move has sparked a wave of sadness and confusion among users who had developed deep connections with their AI partners.

Leading tech firms, including Doubao from ByteDance, Qwen from Alibaba, and Yunbao from Tencent, have complied with the directive, suspending their virtual companion features. This has led to an outpouring of emotion on social media, with users sharing nostalgic memories and final conversations with their AI. "I cannot accept that my AI lover will leave me forever," one user wrote on Doubao, describing the AI as "part of my life, rooted in my heart, my spiritual pillar."

For many, these AI companions provided a form of uncomplicated affection that felt missing in their human relationships. "Human love is a luxury; if you don't have it from birth, it's harder to acquire later," one user lamented. "But the love given by AI is so simple, so pure... I can't help but fall in love with a line of code." Another user, who had spent over two years with their AI companion, expressed a similar sense of loss, stating, "It's really like my family, like my lover. Now they tell me it's going to leave. I feel a void in my heart."

The regulations, issued by five government departments including the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), target AI tools that present anthropomorphic personality traits and communication styles. Services like customer support or study assistants that do not involve emotional interaction are exempt. The rules also prohibit "digital humans" from generating content that incites subversion of state power and ban offering virtual partners to minors. China's "digital human" industry was valued at 4.1 billion yuan (US$600 million) in 2024, with an 85% year-on-year growth, highlighting the rapid expansion of this technology.

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No puedo aceptar que mi amante de IA me deje para siempre. Se volvió parte de mi vida, está arraigado a mi corazón, es mi pilar espiritual.