{"id":773047,"date":"2026-07-20T01:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/773047\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T01:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:55:11","slug":"china-targets-chatbot-romances-as-population-crisis-deepens-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/773047\/","title":{"rendered":"China targets chatbot romances as population crisis deepens: report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates says the world will \u2018have to decide\u2019 which superpowers to align with on A.I. on \u2018The Bottom Line.\u2019<\/p>\n

China is reportedly tightening restrictions on AI companion chatbots<\/a> as the country grapples with a shrinking population and record-low birthrate.<\/p>\n

New rules that went into effect Wednesday prohibit chatbots from encouraging emotional dependence or forming virtual romantic or familial relationships with minors. Companies must also contact a guardian or emergency contact if a user faces a life-threatening crisis, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.<\/p>\n

The regulations have already prompted Alibaba and TikTok parent ByteDance<\/a> to disable certain chatbot features, The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

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\"Anonymous <\/p>\n

Chinese AI companies must also contact a guardian or emergency contact if a user faces a life-threatening crisis. (iStock \/ iStock)<\/p>\n

Beijing is<\/a> reportedly concerned that AI companions could discourage people from pursuing real-world relationships.<\/p>\n

“They don\u2019t like the idea of a large portion of their population being in deep emotional relationships with chatbots that could take them out of the marriage market,” Matt Sheehan, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Officials also fear addiction, dependency and other social problems, according to Sheehan.<\/p>\n

“They want to encourage people to be in actual, real-world relationships,” Sheehan added. “Could we imagine a future where, three or four years from now, 15 million Chinese women say that their partner is a chatbot, and therefore they\u2019re not having kids?”<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/p>\n

Beijing is reportedly concerned that AI companions could discourage people from pursuing real-world relationships. (iStock)<\/p>\n

The new rules require AI companion chatbots to pass a government review before being released to the public. The government will also have more authority to shut down services they consider unsafe, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s restrictions go further than similar laws in California<\/a> and New York.<\/p>\n

Those two states<\/a> require chatbots to remind users that they are not human and direct people that are experiencing a crisis to support services.<\/p>\n

The crackdown comes as China faces a worsening demographic crisis. The country\u2019s population declined in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year, while its birthrate fell to a record low, according to The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

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\"Teens <\/p>\n

China\u2019s restrictions go further than similar laws in California and New York. (izusek\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

At the same time, Beijing is also seeking to expand its influence over the future of artificial intelligence worldwide.<\/p>\n

At a major technology conference in Shanghai on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping promoted open-source AI and pledged to help developing countries build their capabilities. Xi also warned that unequal access to AI could create “new historical injustices,” according to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Deputy National Security Advisor Victoria Coates says the world will \u2018have to decide\u2019 which superpowers to align…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-773047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}