Chinese Authorities Have Declared War on Virtual Mistresses
China has enacted the “Interim Rules on Anthropomorphic Interaction Services with Artificial Intelligence,” designed to limit people’s emotional attachment to chatbots.
The restrictions were introduced by China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC). The new regulations require tech companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance, to refrain from creating content that causes excessive emotional dependence or negatively impacts real-life human relationships.
After the rules took effect, users of popular services—including ByteDance’s Doubao platform—began complaining en masse on social media about “breaking up” with their digital lovers. In particular, 19-year-old student Yang Yongci told Bloomberg that the new rules came as a shock to him, comparable to receiving news of a loved one’s death. Wang Jiang, director of the Chinese Institute for Cyberspace Research, noted that prolonged use of such algorithms poses a risk of isolation from real life and a loss of empathy and conflict-resolution skills.
The new rules were introduced just a few weeks after Shenzhen-based company UBTech unveiled its U1 humanoid robot for lonely people, for which more than 13,000 pre-orders have already been placed. Michael Tam, a representative of the UWorld brand, stated that this humanoid is equipped with an emotional AI system and is capable of detecting its owner’s stress or fatigue. The model is available in male and female versions, with prices starting at 119,800 yuan (approximately $17,600).
This was reported by The Independent.
Scientists are working to help humanoid robots better understand a person’s emotional state and respond appropriately. In particular, one research team is developing technologies that allow machines to identify emotions through facial expressions and respond naturally, while avoiding excessive or potentially dangerous empathy.
Five popular AI chatbots—Copilot, Grok, Meta AI, ChatGPT, and Gemini—freely provided users with lists of offshore, unlicensed casinos and advice on how to use them, which raised concerns. This information came to light thanks to an investigation by The Guardian, which highlights serious ethical issues in AI behavior.
