ByteDance and Alibaba kill custom AI companions as China’s new rules bite

TL;DR

ByteDance’s Doubao and Alibaba’s Qwen are disabling custom AI agent features ahead of China’s Interim Measures on anthropomorphic AI interaction services, effective 15 July. The rules target bots offering sustained emotional interaction while sparing workplace and productivity agents. Tencent pulled a similar Yuanbao feature in June, and users are protesting the loss of chat histories.

ByteDance’s Doubao and Alibaba’s Qwen, two of China’s biggest consumer AI apps, are disabling their customised agent features, the South China Morning Post reports. The move comes days before Beijing’s new rules on humanlike AI interaction services take effect on 15 July.

Doubao told users on Friday that its agent feature would go offline on 15 July, citing product function adjustments. Related data will stop being viewable or recoverable inside the app after 15 October.

Qwen followed on Saturday, saying humanlike interactive agents and user-created agents would be disabled on 10 July, with...

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