Recently, China’s tech giants have disabled the AI-powered virtual companion features in their apps. This move comes in the wake of a new, stricter regulation spearheaded by the government, aimed at curbing emotional dependence and protecting the mental health of minors.
The Main Features of AI Virtual Companions That Have Been Disabled
In 2018, the Japanese Akihiko Kondo publicly united with Hatsune Miku, a famous Japanese singer. Yet, she was only a fictional character. After their union, he received an interactive hologram of the singer, animated by a primitive artificial intelligence, a far cry from today’s conversational agents. At the time, this helped illuminate the concept of fictosexuality, i.e., an orientation of sexual or romantic interest toward fictional characters.
Nearly a decade later, relationships with AI chatbots are plentiful and, at times, users develop emotional attachment and/or dependence on these tools. For the Chinese government, specifically the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the phenomenon has become a real problem, as Euronews outlined in a August 10, 2026 article.
In practice, the CAC has implemented a strict new regulation, the first ever specific to anthropomorphic interactive services, i.e., those that mimic humans. Rather than waiting to face heavy penalties, the country’s tech giants acted preemptively. Thus, ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have cut off or suspended the AI virtual companion features in their apps, namely Doubao, Qwen, and Yuanbao respectively.
Why This New Regulation?
It must be said that the new law in force is very constraining. It formally prohibits minors from accessing virtual companion or partner services. It also bars any application from inducing emotional dependence or manipulating the emotions of adult users. The regulation also imposes a transparency obligation: chatbots must regularly remind users that they are not real humans. It also introduces mandatory breaks every two hours, as well as a duty to intervene in case of crisis: if the AI detects extreme psychological distress or suicidal thoughts, it must block the flow and alert the emergency services.
For the Chinese government, the measure is clearly motivated by two major arguments: mental health and social isolation, as well as the current birth-rate crisis. Authorities are deeply worried about the psychological drift and emotional dependence resulting from interactions with chatbots. Additionally, the regime fears that young people, comforted and reassured by a “perfect” virtual partner, will completely turn away from real relationships, marriage, and childbearing.
Not surprisingly, the sudden interruption of AI virtual companions caused a massive shock among millions of users. For many, these avatars were an integral part of daily life. Indeed, many have shared their distress on local social networks like Weibo and Rednote. Finally, some companies like ByteDance tried to redirect the public toward alternative apps, focused more on role-playing or storytelling. However, users do not appear genuinely interested, insisting that the relational experience is not the same.
👉 A small gesture for Space Group? Follow us on Google, add us to your favorites, and find us on Google News so you don’t miss any discoveries.
