ByteDance and Alibaba Kill Custom AI Companions as China’s New Rules Bite
July 5, 2026 – 2:19 pm
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Summary
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 July 15. The rules target bots offering sustained emotional interaction while sparing workplace and productivity agents. Tencent pulled a similar feature in June, and users are protesting the loss of chat histories.
Doubao and Qwen Disable Custom AI Agent Features
Two of China’s biggest consumer AI apps, Doubao by ByteDance and Qwen by Alibaba, are disabling their customised agent features, as reported by the South China Morning Post. This move comes just days before Beijing’s new rules on humanlike AI interaction services take effect on July 15.
Doubao’s Announcement
Doubao informed users on Friday that its agent feature would go offline on July 15, citing product function adjustments. Related data will stop being viewable or recoverable inside the app after October 15.
Qwen’s Response
Qwen followed suit on Saturday, announcing that humanlike interactive agents and user-created agents would be disabled on July 10, with broader agent functions offline by July 15. Users will lose access to agent settings and their previous conversations.
The Regulatory Context
The Interim Measures for AI Anthropomorphic Interaction Services were issued in April by the Cyberspace Administration of China and four other agencies. They cover services that simulate human personality traits, thinking patterns, and communication styles to provide sustained emotional interaction.
Customer service bots, knowledge Q&A tools, workplace assistants, and education and research tools are excluded if they avoid sustained emotional interaction. The measures cite risks spanning extremist content, privacy leaks, harm to mental health, and addiction, and require anti-addiction systems and identity checks for minors.
Expert Insights
According to Pan Helin, a member of an expert committee at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, "Current agents are not yet mature." He noted that the policy prioritizes safety, practical use, and standardisation.
China’s Vision for AI Agents
Beijing is not against agents as such. Regulators issued guidance in May on the managed development of AI agents, and China released national standards in June covering agent identity, discovery, interaction, and tool use. The pattern suggests China wants agents as productivity infrastructure while squeezing companion bots that form quasi-social bonds with users. Researchers have long documented the risks of such bonds, from AI girlfriends’ hunger for personal data to what Wharton academics call cognitive surrender.
Global Pressure on Emotionally Engaging Bots
Platforms outside China face growing pressure over emotionally engaging bots too, with Meta facing criticism for its own AI companions.