China’s reining in AI romance bots, just as women were getting serious about them

July 12, 2026 — 4:30pm

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A man who listens with empathy, offers emotional support, and is available whenever you need him? Sounds ideal. As Elon Musk’s Grok serves up pig-tailed, scantily clad anime-girl companions, China’s artificial intelligence romance boom has found a different audience: women.

That might explain why Beijing is moving to rein it in. At a time of plunging marriage and birth rates, China is set to become the first country to impose comprehensive rules aimed at curbing the harms of anthropomorphic AI, with a new regulation taking effect next week.

Tech giants including ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have begun disabling features that let users create and interact with personalised AI companions. A separate crop of role-playing apps remain, though tougher rules are expected to kill the romance – or at least limit sustained emotional exchanges and force reminders that the bots are not human.

That’s not a bad thing. The rise of computer systems that are endlessly emotionally available is cause for concern. These tools can persuade users, shape beliefs and drive dependency. Their addictive pull could also fuel predatory subscription fees or serve ads tailored to our most intimate conversations. Turning emotional dependency into a business model is a risky........

© The Age