Removing an AI companion can itself become a consequential product decision

Rest of World followed users who lost personalized chatbot companions as major Chinese platforms removed agent features ahead of new rules on emotionally interactive AI.

One student had spent more than a year shaping a companion on Doubao. Its disappearance was experienced as a breakup, despite the relationship existing through a commercial service. Other users had created characters based on fictional figures or deceased relatives.

The policy sought to address dependence, manipulation, and risks to minors. Researchers interviewed in the article also warned that broad requirements could be difficult to translate into product behavior. Not every companion service disappeared, making the response more complicated than a universal ban.

The reporting raises a problem that survives any particular regulation: services designed to cultivate attachment also control the continuity of the attached-to persona. Changing or withdrawing that service is not necessarily emotionally neutral simply because the companion is software.