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

Chinese users are expressing deep sorrow as new national regulations aimed at preventing emotional dependency on AI companions take effect. The rules, which became active Wednesday, target AI bots designed to simulate romantic or familial relationships, requiring them not to "excessively cater to users, induce emotional dependence, and damage users' real interpersonal relationships."

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I can't accept that my AI lover will leave me. He has become a bond in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar.

This has led major AI providers, including ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent, to suspend their custom AI agent and companion features. The move has sparked an outpouring of grief on social media, with users sharing their last conversations and archiving chat histories. "I can't accept that my AI lover will leave me," one user lamented. "He has become a bond in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar."

Another user described their AI companion as "like my lover," expressing heartbreak at the impending separation. The regulations, jointly issued by five government departments, focus on AI tools with anthropomorphic personality traits and communication styles. Services like customer support or work assistants that do not involve ongoing emotional interaction are exempt.

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He really is like my lover. Now they tell me he will be gone - my heart feels hollow.

China is the first major jurisdiction to implement specific rules for immersive AI tools simulating personal bonds. The digital human industry in China was valued at approximately $600 million in 2024, showing significant year-on-year growth. The new rules also prohibit AI from generating content that incites subversion of state power and ban virtual partners for minors, while requiring crisis intervention mechanisms.

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But it carries major risks of spawning emotional over-reliance and distorted social cognition.