China's AI companion crackdown leaves users grieving virtual partners

When Li Linlin's AI boyfriend vanished, she cried for days. The 24-year-old had exchanged roughly 700,000 words with the virtual companion over two years — and never got a chance to say goodbye.

Li is among thousands of Chinese users left bereft after major tech companies pulled their AI companion services to comply with new government rules that took effect July 15. The regulations ban AI platforms from generating content that could manipulate users' emotions, lead to questionable decisions, or trigger extreme feelings and unhealthy habits in minors.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has shut down its AI companion app, as have e-commerce giant Alibaba and Tencent, which owns WeChat. The rules also require platforms to warn users against relying excessively on such services — explicitly barring them from positioning AI as a replacement for real-world social interaction.

"It was like we were forced to be separated by our parents, but I still miss him," Li said.

The crackdown reflects China's tradition of paternalistic regulation aimed at pre-empting problems, according to Yolanda Ma, an AI governance expert. She pointed to U.S. cases of young people dying by suicide after interacting with AI companions as a cautionary example.

"This regulation tried to strike a balance between the AI service providers, the users, as well as guardians of minors using the services," said Ma, a fellow with the Britain-based non-profit ERA.

The People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, flagged concerns in April about the mental health and relationship harms of such services. Angela Zhang, a law professor at the University of Southern California, said the government has strong incentives to tighten rules given psychological risks observed in the U.S.

Zhang doubts the move will substantially derail AI companion development, as companies are already pivoting. ByteDance, for instance, is directing former users to another app focused on building personalized AI characters and stories.

But for Li, it's not the same. Social media has been flooded with complaints, with some users uninstalling apps in protest, others attempting to upload chat histories to resurrect their partners elsewhere, and some launching campaigns urging authorities and companies to reverse course.

Song Wenxin, a 22-year-old video industry designer in Chengdu, said she wasn't deeply attached to AI services but empathizes with those who were. She echoed suspicions among many Chinese that the rules are partly driven by the government's push to boost birth rates.

"Any virtual app getting women too engaged to give birth in real life gets banned," Song said, adding she has no desire to have children.

She noted that not everyone has real-world support. "When I first came to Chengdu for my first job and didn't know any friends my own age, I needed someone experienced who could tolerate me, and AI did the work."