China’s AI companion rules force Doubao, Qwen shutdowns

TL;DR ByteDance’s Doubao and Alibaba’s Qwen are disabling custom AI agent features ahead of China’s Interim Measures on anthropomorphic AI interaction services, effective 15 July. The rules target bots offering sustained emotional interaction while sparing workplace and productivity agents. Tencent pulled a similar Yuanbao feature in June, and users are protesting the loss of chat […]