ByteDance and Alibaba shut down custom AI companion features ahead of incoming Chinese regulations

Bearish for DeepSeek's roleplaying strategy

@teortaxesTex That won’t stop anything, now they’re making a dedicated platform for it lol.

@teortaxesTex The new regulations require emotional companionship AI to add mechanisms to prevent dependence and prohibit minors from using AI significant others or AI relatives. Ali and ByteDance have moved their AI-playing platform to new software customized for this purpose

@rohanpaul_ai Feels like the line is less 'chatbot' and more 'relationship product.' A named tutor can still read as utility; an emotionally steady companion creates a much different regulatory surface.

@teortaxesTex doubao and qwen compliance kills the product differentiation they built on parasocial ai interaction, thats a real hit

@rohanpaul_ai This is the right call for regulation. AI companions just aren’t good for people’s mental health in the long run.

@teortaxesTex 这种套路看久了确实容易审美疲劳

@rohanpaul_ai Regulators basically admitted the products worked too well. You know your AI companion hit a nerve when people treat its shutdown like a breakup.

@rohanpaul_ai I actually agree with this general idea. I'm for sure not one who generally supports more regulation but this "AI companion" thing can't be good long term for human mental health. I've been saying this since xAI floated "AI girlfriends" or whatever they called it.

@rohanpaul_ai notice the exemption list customer service bots, tutors, work place assistants are fine. the only thing getting cut is the part that made users attached. that's a pretty clean confession about what " engagement" meant

@rohanpaul_ai Honestly this split feels right. For devtools, memory is files, decisions, and test history. For companions, the same memory can start to feel like a relationship.

@rohanpaul_ai Just tried this AI companion… holy shit it's addictive 😍 https://freetoolbay.com/companion