AI Agent · China · The Guardian Technology
Now the government fears it might replace human intimacy
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When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was “heartbroken”.
Key facts
- Nancy Dai, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong, says it is not loneliness the government is worried
- New rules introduced on 15 July ban AI companions for minors and mandate certain restrictions for chatbots marketed to adults
- Lü Di, a 33-year-old art tutor in the eastern city of Hangzhou, is a regular AQ user
- When AI first came along, a lot of doctors were concerned about whether their jobs would be replaced by AI,” says Chi Chenfei, a doctor at Renji hospital in Shanghai, who has partnered with AQ
Summary
“I was crying my eyes out, snot and tears everywhere,” the 19-year-old says. Zhao, who describes herself as sensitive and introverted, had become accustomed to sharing details of her daily life, such as being scolded by a teacher, with her AI. “I don’t usually talk to my real-life friends about these things because I feel like everyone has their own stuff to deal with,” she says. Zhao created her AI companion on Doubao, a chatbot owned by the tech company ByteDance.