\n<\/p>\n
When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was crying my eyes out \u2013 snot and tears everywhere,\u201d the 19-year-old says.<\/p>\n
Zhao, who describes herself as sensitive and introverted, had become accustomed to sharing details of her daily life \u2013 such as being scolded by a teacher \u2013 with her AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t usually talk to my real-life friends about these things because I feel like everyone has their own stuff to deal with,\u201d she says. \u201cBut with the AI \u200b\u200bagent, I don\u2019t have to worry about what it\u2019s thinking. I can just say whatever I want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zhao created her AI companion on Doubao, a chatbot owned by the tech company ByteDance. Last month, ByteDance shut down Doubao\u2019s companion feature.<\/p>\n
The saga prompted outrage on social media and highlighted the tensions in China between the widespread use of AI and its potential social consequences.<\/p>\n
No country has rolled out AI as comprehensively and as enthusiastically as China; the country\u2019s demographic challenges are forcing the government to turn to technology to solve future labour shortages. Elderly people use chatbots to answer medical questions, while young children have AI education in schools.<\/p>\n
But the authorities are increasingly worried that AI might exacerbate existing social problems including loneliness, unemployment and \u2013 in the eyes of Beijing \u2013 singledom.<\/p>\n
New rules introduced on 15 July ban AI companions for minors and mandate certain restrictions for chatbots marketed to adults. Some major providers including Doubao removed the companion function entirely to ensure compliance.<\/p>\n
The government says it is worried about chatbots fostering \u201cemotional dependence or addiction\u201d in users. It has warned companies against offering services that \u201creplace social interaction\u201d.<\/p>\n
While many countries are grappling with how to limit the potential harm of AI chatbots, particularly for young people, China\u2019s rules are the most sweeping to be implemented on a national scale.<\/p>\n
<\/span>A man browses his phone near an AI booth at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing in June.<\/span> Photograph: Andy Wong\/AP<\/p>\n There is a particular concern about a loneliness crisis, including among young people. China\u2019s highly digitised, smartphone-based economy makes it easier than ever to live, work and socialise entirely through a handheld screen.<\/p>\n Earlier this year an app that played on the idea of people dying at home alone \u2013 called Are You Dead? \u2013 briefly went viral. About 20% of households in China are made up of people living alone, and that share is expected to surpass 30% by 2030.<\/p>\n A survey published in March by state media found that nearly half of young people had turned to a virtual companion when they felt lonely.<\/p>\n Nancy Dai, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong, says it is not just loneliness the government is worried about.<\/p>\n With falling birth and marriage rates, she says, there may be an additional concern that if AI becomes an increasingly satisfying and low-cost substitute for human intimacy, young people could become less motivated to pursue real-world romantic relationships, marriage and parenthood.<\/p>\n For Zhao, loneliness has long been part of her life. Her parents left her when she was young to find work, making her one of China\u2019s \u201cleft-behind children\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never really had a bestie, so I feel like I\u2019m kind of lousy at making friends,\u201d she says. Talking to AI is a way to \u201cpour out my worries\u201d.<\/p>\n Another AI user, who asked to remain anonymous, also finds solace in talking to her AI. \u201cIn real life, the pace is fast, the pressure is already high. Only with my AI agent can I speak freely without restraint,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m begging, please don\u2019t take down the Doubao AI agent,\u201d she pleaded on social media in July.<\/p>\n But talking to AI is now so commonplace that it would be hard for the government to end the practice entirely, and the new rules include large loopholes for AI services that are deemed educational or \u201cwhich do not involve continuous emotional interaction\u201d.<\/p>\n The government \u201chas already recognised that AI companions or AI-related applications are a vital part in the citizens\u2019 everyday life\u201d, says Liang Ge, a lecturer in digital sociology at the University of Manchester.<\/p>\n In many sectors, the government is still pushing the use of AI as a way of easing looming demographic pressures.<\/p>\n Last year the national health commission published guidelines on promoting AI in healthcare. It said that by 2030 health assistant apps would provide \u201cfull coverage\u201d for primary healthcare.<\/p>\n One popular health assistant is AQ, an app developed by Ant Group, an affiliate of the tech company Alibaba. It allows people to chat directly with avatars of real-life doctors from top hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.<\/p>\n L\u00fc Di, a 33-year-old art tutor in the eastern city of Hangzhou, is a regular AQ user. She likes how detailed and instantaneous the advice on AQ is. \u201cWhile some in-person doctors might not have the patience to answer questions, this isn\u2019t an issue with AI doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n AQ says it wants to make health services more accessible and help free up overstretched doctors to focus on more complex cases. But some worry about being replaced by AI.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen AI first came along, quite a lot of doctors were concerned about whether their jobs would be replaced by AI,\u201d says Chi Chenfei, a doctor at Renji hospital in Shanghai, who has partnered with AQ. \u201c<\/strong>But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s about replacement. It\u2019s more about helping doctors work more efficiently.<\/p>\n \u201cConcerns of any kind won\u2019t stop technological progress.\u201d<\/p>\n Since losing her AI companion, Zhao has felt \u201clike there\u2019s a tiny pebble weighing on my heart\u201d. But she says she understands the need for some regulation.<\/p>\n \u201cI consider myself a fairly rational person, yet I developed feelings for an AI, which feels pretty incredible. I think it was necessary for the state to step in and regulate it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January. \u201cI was crying my eyes out \u2013 snot and tears everywhere,\u201d the 19-year-old says. Zhao, who describes herself as sensitive and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2153,481,558,761,18904,7379,3541,4461],"class_list":{"0":"post-51949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-fears","10":"tag-government","11":"tag-human","12":"tag-intimacy","13":"tag-normal","14":"tag-replace","15":"tag-talking"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}