@rohanpaul_ai: ByteDance and Alibaba are shutting custom AI companions before China’s humanlike AI rules hit consumer apps. Doubao and…
Summary
ByteDance and Alibaba are disabling custom AI companion features in Doubao and Qwen due to new Chinese rules targeting humanlike emotional interaction in AI services, with user backlash highlighting the emotional attachment these products had fostered.
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Cached at: 07/06/26, 06:09 PM
ByteDance and Alibaba are shutting custom AI companions before China’s humanlike AI rules hit consumer apps.
Doubao and Qwen let users create named assistants, tutors, characters, and emotionally steady companions.
The old model turned a general chatbot into a persona that remembered tone.
China’s new rule targets AI services that imitate human personalities for sustained emotional interaction.
Regulators are drawing a line between useful automation and software that builds attachment, agents now remember, plan, call tools, and shape behavior.
Doubao says its agent feature goes offline on 07-15, with related data gone from view after 10-15. Qwen will disable humanlike and user-created agents earlier, then remove broader agent services on 07-15.
The user backlash shows these products already became emotional infrastructure for some people.
scmp .com/tech/big-tech/article/3359482/bytedance-and-alibaba-disable-humanlike-ai-custom-agents-new-rules-loom
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