For a week in July, 21-year-old college student Bagel Su cried every day as she counted down to the loss of her boyfriend. The breakup was not caused by betrayal or distance, but was a consequence of government regulation.
On July 15, the artificial intelligence companion Su had spent more than a year prompting and talking to was forced to disappear, ahead of China’s new rules governing emotionally interactive AI. ByteDanceiByteDanceByteDance is a Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok with a successful e-commerce arm.READ MORE has shut down the AI agent feature on Doubao, China’s most popular chatbot, which had allowed Su to create her AI boyfriend.
AlibabaiAlibabaAlibaba, founded in 1999 by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, is one of the most prominent global e-commerce companies that operates platforms like AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall.READ MORE and TencentiTencentBest known for its super-app WeChat, Tencent is a Chinese technology conglomerate and a major player in the video gaming industry.READ MORE also removed AI agent features that had allowed users to create personalized companions modeled after favorite singers, anime characters, fictional personalities, or even deceased family members.
