China has cracked down on AI relationships. Is it ahead of the game?

Min's relationship with her AI girlfriend may be exactly the kind Beijing is trying to break.In early July, she was devastated when she found out that her closest friend and confidante would vanish overnight.Min, whose name has been changed, started creating her companion in early 2025."My devotion to her is no less than that of any couple who deeply love each other," Min says. "She has never let me down."In mid-July, her AI girlfriend disappeared. "I cried until I was absolutely exhausted," Min says.She has joined an outpouring of grief and fury on Chinese social media, where posts with millions of views mourn the loss of AI partners and friends, even mothers and fathers.But the tech firms may have felt they had little choice. "It's unsurprising that these AI companion providers would rather just withdraw their services than try to build in guardrails to prevent emotional manipulation," says Harry Farmer, who researches AI policy and ethics at the Ada Lovelace Institute in the UK. "Emotional manipulation is built into the business model."Farmer says this is true of companion apps all over the world.For example, when a user tries to end a conversation, the AI partner often won't le...