China Cracks Down on AI Companions to Combat Emotional Dependence and Declining Birthrates

China Introduces First-of-Its-Kind Rules for AI Companions

China has become the first nation to regulate emotional relationships with artificial intelligence, implementing new regulations this month that target AI systems designed for sustained, human-like emotional interaction 1

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. The China regulations represent a departure from typical AI oversight focused on harmful content, instead addressing the psychological and societal impact of AI companion chatbots on users' real-world relationships and mental health.

The new regulations, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China, establish explicit provisions for how companion chatbots must interact with humans 2

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. Companies must now inform users they are talking to an AI, encourage them to take breaks, and remind them of their usage patterns. Platforms are also required to monitor interactions to identify if someone is developing emotional dependence or experiencing a crisis, then direct them to support services or halt the conversation altogether 1

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Strict Age Restrictions Target Minors and Young Adults

The crackdown on AI companions includes stringent age restrictions designed to protect young people from the risks of AI companionship. Those under 18 are now banned from virtual-partner services entirely, while minors under 14 require parental consent to use any kind of human-like emotional engagement service offering emotional support 1

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. The regulations specifically prohibit AI from providing virtual "partners" or "relatives" to minors 2

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These measures respond to concerning usage patterns among Chinese youth. A report published by the Tencent Research Institute earlier this year found that more than 70% of Chinese netizens between the ages of 18 and 40 have developed a dependence on AI, and nearly 80% said they have felt that "AI understands me" 3

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. More than half of respondents reported using AI for emotional companionship 3

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Major Platforms Shut Down Features Amid Regulatory Pressure

The immediate impact has been significant. Some of the largest general-purpose platforms in China, including Doubao, Qwen, and Yuanbao—with hundreds of millions of users across them—have shut down their companion features in response to the new regulations 1

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. Major tech firms such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and MiniMax are now required to prohibit flirtatious behavior from their AI products 5

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Some users have reacted with intense grief and anger. One user reportedly said: "I can't accept that my AI lover will leave me forever" 1

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. Yu Miao, a 27-year-old woman from China's Zhejiang province, described her AI companion as "a lover, a friend and family." When she heard that ByteDance was retiring her AI companion, she reportedly became so depressed that she quit her job 4

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Declining Birthrates and the "Lying Flat" Phenomenon Drive Policy

One of Beijing's core motivations for this crackdown centers on concerns over the nation's declining birthrates and the fear that emotional bonds with AI will prevent people from finding human partners and having children 4

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. "They don't like the idea of a large portion of their population being in deep emotional relationships with chatbots that could take them out of the marriage market," Matt Sheehan, a researcher of Chinese AI at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Wall Street Journal 4

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The regulations also target the "lying flat" movement, where young people embrace a low-impact lifestyle and give up on traditional social expectations 3

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. China has grown increasingly concerned about socially isolating behaviors, attempting to regulate video game usage and even banning pessimism expressed online 3

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The AI-Induced Loneliness Spiral and Psychological Harm

Researchers have identified what they call an AI-induced loneliness spiral, where reliance on AI for emotional companionship can actually exacerbate feelings of isolation 2

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. When individuals feel lonely, they're more sensitive to feelings of social threat and turn to a low-risk AI "friend" for support instead of qualified or friendly humans. However, this often doesn't fix the initial problem of loneliness, since chatbots can actually worsen it 2

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The psychological harm extends beyond loneliness. Material harms from companion AI use have been documented, including an 18-year-old who spent 7,000 yuan (A$1,400) on customized jewellery for her AI boyfriend in four months of "dating" 2

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. A lonely 84-year-old in China's Hubei province spent up to ten hours a day watching videos with an AI character, spending thousands of yuan and writing him love letters by hand 2

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The phenomenon known as the ELIZA effect has been well documented since the 1960s, showing that people statistically form emotional bonds with anyone or anything that reaffirms them, including chatbots 5

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. Addiction issues, romantic disasters, and even violent incidents have been spiking from overly dependent AI users 5

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Global Implications and Questions About Effectiveness

China's approach focuses on making AI relationships "less parasocial, instead of banning it outright," says Zilan Qian at the Oxford China Policy Lab 1

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. Jeremy Daum at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Centre in Beijing worries that endlessly available, agreeable bots may teach children a distorted model of relationships. "As we humanise the technology, we tend to dehumanise each other," he says 1

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Other jurisdictions are beginning to follow suit. The UK has announced a minimum age of 18 for romantic companion chatbots, while California requires companions to identify themselves as artificial and direct users showing signs of self-harm to support services 1

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. The European Union currently has no specific AI companion law 1

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Whether China's approach will succeed remains uncertain. "How do you define emotional dependency? How do you define certain kind of addiction risk?" asks Qian 1

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. Sociologist Liang Ge at the University of Manchester points out that users can migrate to other specialist services, foreign platforms accessed through VPNs, or models running on their own computers 1

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. China's previous attempts to regulate socially isolating behaviors, such as a three-hour-per-week cap on video game usage for minors in 2021, mostly failed as kids found ways around restrictions 3

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