Chinese tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba are rolling back features that allowed users to create and interact with personalized AI companions, as the companies prepare to introduce tough new rules on human-AI interactions.
Chinese tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba are rolling back features that allowed users to create and interact with personalized AI companions, as the companies prepare to introduce tough new rules on human-AI interactions.
China’s most popular AI chatbot, Doubao, from ByteDance, will shut down its feature that allows users to create their own AI characters on July 15, Bloomberg reported. According to an in-app notification, users are being advised to switch to a separate, standalone service. Similar warnings were issued by Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent’s Yuanbao, according to local media.
The sudden shutdown of the features is related to new rules from Beijing that come into effect in mid-July. The initiative, developed by the Cyberspace Administration of China, is aimed at strengthening supervision over services that imitate human traits and emotions. The regulations prohibit platforms from generating content that causes extreme reactions in minors or forms unhealthy emotional dependence that can destroy real-life relationships. In addition, providers are prohibited from using data from sensitive conversations to train future models.
The guidelines are one of the world’s most comprehensive sets of rules to prevent potential harm from artificial intelligence, although some companies warn that the strict framework could slow innovation. They reflect growing global concerns about the psychological impact of conversational AI.
Before the restrictions, Chinese AI platforms offered extensive customization of agents with a few text prompts. The most popular requests among users were virtual boyfriends and girlfriends, unlicensed digital therapists, and pop idol simulations.
