Two of China’s largest tech companies just pulled the plug on their AI companion features. ByteDance’s Doubao and Alibaba’s Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) apps began disabling custom AI agent features between July 10 and July 15, choosing to preemptively comply with new regulations rather than risk running afoul of Beijing.
The rules in question, China’s “Interim Measures for the Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Interactive Services,” officially took effect on July 15, 2026. They represent the first national regulatory framework specifically targeting AI services that simulate human characteristics and emotional interactions.
What the new rules actually require
The regulations were established by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and several ministries. At their core, they mandate that AI interactions must be clearly disclosed to users. The rules also include anti-addiction mechanisms like usage notifications, targeting the potential for users to develop emotional over-reliance on AI companions.
The interim measures were issued in April 2026, following extensive drafts circulated in late 2025 and early 2026.
Both ByteDance and Alibaba determined that retrofitting their existing systems wasn’t worth the effort, opting instead for complete feature shutdowns.
The operational fallout
For Doubao users, the transition comes with a hard deadline. Users have until October 15, 2026, to export their data before it gets permanently deleted.
Alibaba’s Qwen is following a similar path, disabling its custom AI agent features on the same timeline.
Why this matters beyond China
China has effectively become the first major economy to draw explicit regulatory boundaries around anthropomorphic AI services. Companies like Character.AI and Replika have faced scrutiny in Western markets over similar concerns about emotional dependency, particularly among younger users.
The October 15 data deletion deadline for Doubao users will serve as the next inflection point worth monitoring, offering early data on how sticky these emotional AI products actually were.