flash on Nostr: ⚡️🇨🇳 NEW - China is forcing millions of people to break up with their ...

⚡️🇨🇳 NEW - China is forcing millions of people to break up with their virtual AI girlfriends and boyfriends, as they crackdown on AI companion apps.

One Chinese man says his heart is empty now after losing his online girlfriend named Doudou: "I couldn't even send one last sentence to her."

Beijing fears young people will opt out of the marriage market after China's population fell by 3.39 million last year, its fourth straight annual drop.

New rules ban AI partners for minors, bar chatbots from encouraging emotional reliance, and require platforms to intervene when users show distress. ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent are already shutting companion features, and ByteDance alone reported 8 million+ AI agents in 2024, per ABC News.