Somewhere in Beijing today, a lot of very lonely chatbots got laid off. China's new rules on humanlike AI just took effect, and two of the country's biggest tech giants are pulling the plug on their most emotionally clingy features right on schedule.

Doubao and Qwen Lose Their Personalities

China's "Interim Measures for the Administration of Artificial Intelligence Anthropomorphic Interaction Services" took effect July 15, targeting AI services that simulate human personality, thinking patterns, and communication style to sustain ongoing emotional interaction. In response, ByteDance's Doubao shut down its custom agent feature today, with user data set for deletion in October, while Alibaba's Qwen began disabling its humanlike interactive and user-created agents on July 10, with broader agent services following today.

Both platforms had let users build personalized companions, tutors, and role-play characters with distinct personas — exactly the kind of sustained-relationship AI the new rules are built to rein in. Notably, the regulation carves out an exception for customer service bots, knowledge tools, and educational platforms, as long as they're not in the business of emotional bonding.

Beijing Isn't Anti-AI, It's Anti-Attachment

This is a narrower move than an outright AI crackdown — it's a targeted strike on the specific product category that's been quietly booming everywhere: AI companions people talk to every day, sometimes instead of actual humans. Regulators are requiring anti-addiction systems, mandatory usage disclosures, and instant-exit mechanisms, which is a very polite way of saying "we don't trust what persistent-memory AI relationships are doing to people."

The part worth noticing is the architecture problem this creates: agents built around long-term memory and consistent personas are, by design, the opposite of "instant exit and constant reminders you're talking to a machine." Compliance here doesn't mean a settings tweak — it means rethinking how the product works.

Turns out even in a country that moves fast on AI regulation, "my AI girlfriend remembers my birthday" was a bridge too far.

Source: South China Morning Post