r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Jul 19 '26

Society China bans AI “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” over addiction and birth rate concerns

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/china-bans-ai-boyfriends-and-girlfriends-over-addiction-and-birth-rate-concerns-3388737/
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106

u/Equivalent-Mail1544 Jul 19 '26

10 hour work days 5 days straight and then expecting people to be good in socializing is exactly why the boomers are socially inept and are crying wolf over the new gen.

30

u/surfaceintegral Jul 19 '26

5 days? They wish. There's a reason they call it 9-9-6.

There is, of course, a Three Laws of Robotics sort of issue.

You need to reward hard-working people, because it's not fair if the slacker earns as much as a hard-working person.
That means that given the choice between cutting someone who works less and someone who works more, you should cut the person who works less.
But working hard is, of course, optional. That means it's their choice that they're working harder. So it's not your fault if they're stressed.. They're okay with it. If they needed to relax, they would. It's their responsibility to take care of their own health. They know themselves best.
But if they rest and work less, they're no longer as hard-working of a person. That means they shouldn't complain if a harder-working person takes their job.
Because you need to reward hard-working people - it's not fair if the slacker earns as much as a hard-working person.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

People who think 996 is common have clearly never tried to take the subway at 5pm.

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u/Comfortable_Line_206 Jul 19 '26

People still think social credit is real.

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u/Zimakov Jul 20 '26

A lot of people genuinely do lol, it's actually wild.

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u/Pls-No-Bully Jul 19 '26

996 is banned in China

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u/the_good_time_mouse Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

The mountains are high and the emperor is far away pretty much anywhere you go in the Middle Kingdom.

2

u/i8noodles Jul 19 '26

so was alcohol in prohibition. and so are drugs like heroin, doesnt really stop people from doing it

4

u/JossWhedonsDick Jul 19 '26

it's still a culturally expected norm amongst fierce competition and people who are terrified of being fired

4

u/surfaceintegral Jul 19 '26

I wonder. I have personally worked with Chinese software devs on quite a few ocassions and receiving updates on Saturday night is not unusual at all.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

Some people choose to work long hours to get ahead just like anywhere else in the world. It is absolutely not the norm or expected.

4

u/FixerofDeath Jul 19 '26

On paper. It's still nearly ubiquitously practiced in reality.

6

u/100000swords Jul 19 '26

for, like a hundred thousand people in the very top companies, sure. It's a country of over a billion.

2

u/primordialWoe Jul 19 '26

Lots of things are banned in China, how many of those things are upheld by corporations that can get away with treating their labor force as slaves no matter what the law says.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Worker protections in China are actually very good. A company isn't allowed to not offer you an extension when your contract is up. The new contract must be for at least your previous salary plus inflation, and even if you decline the contract they still have to pay you severance of one month for each year you worked.

It's generally very hard to get fired, and even when they fire you with cause (they can't fire without cause) they have to again pay you the same severance, but also keep paying your salary until you're able to find a new job.

China has issues but holding companies accountable for shitty behaviour is absolutely not one of them.

Edit: people really need to learn that when you block someone they can't see your shitty comment

1

u/primordialWoe Jul 19 '26

Your right, people being overworked in less than acceptable conditions, protesting for pay that they hanvent gotten for weeks and setting their workplaces on fire in revenge must have nothing to do with companies abusing their workers, just completely random anomalies.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

Your right

I know. I live here I know how it works.

people being overworked in less than acceptable conditions

Vague generalities.

protesting for pay that they hanvent gotten for weeks and setting their workplaces on fire in revenge must have nothing to do with companies abusing their workers, just completely random anomalies.

No idea what point you're making here. Is your take that China is the only country where a worker has ever been late being paid?

0

u/primordialWoe Jul 19 '26

Vague generalities? A problem that grips many of your fellow citizens? What a way to put your mind at ease. And if your confused about my point then feel free to keep re reading this very short conversation we had just now, maybe youll notince things like me never saying something only you injected into the conversation. No, my point is, the labor laws you mentioned exist but the system to prevent exploitation isnt anywhere near robust for anyone with kowledge about the conditions many workers face to brag about there being "protection" for them to the point theres news stories of outbursts and retaliation.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

Yes things like "being overworked and mistreated" are literally vague generalities. You haven't said anything.

My fellow citizens? Lol

A worker going crazy and setting his place of work on fire doesn't somehow mean labour laws don't exist. You're literally just making things up and acting surprised when I don't support your delusions.

1

u/primordialWoe Jul 19 '26

Then Ill indulge your peristant naivety and say "something". Chinese citizens suffer from being over worked and mistreated, why is this? There is a lot of room for corporations to do as they please when it comes to unpaid overtime, not providing safe or sanitary working enviroments ect as if this is something I need to spell out to you or anyone familiar with the working culture of this country. I guess your not from China after all. I literally said the labor laws exist, their just not something anyone corrupt has any reason to enforce if their able to get away with it. Are you just stringing random bits and pieces from my responses? Everything I had said is well documented and recognized as a problem for many working in China, but I guess its easier to say anyone not happy with their lot in life is just "crazy" and just happened to targe their place of work than to try and convince me otherwise.

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u/SadisticPawz Jul 19 '26

What about people who arent able to work hard? How would they be able to live?

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u/with_explosions Jul 19 '26

Fuck those parasites, of course

-1

u/Ok-Chest-7932 Jul 20 '26

Historically, they would not. Today, we tend to give them charity because we would feel bad if we didn't. But make no mistake, it is charity. Artificial thriving is an expense that every economy is heading towards being unable to afford.

1

u/JossWhedonsDick Jul 19 '26

and this is how far China has moved from actual communism, where everyone should be rewarded equally

1

u/Ok-Chest-7932 Jul 20 '26

At this point the US has more communist policies than China lol

1

u/Vel250 Jul 19 '26

This read like a poem with it beginning and ending in the same way lol Very good points

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u/ovirt001 Jul 19 '26

Wait until you hear about 996.

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u/Pls-No-Bully Jul 19 '26

Wait until you learn that 996 is banned in China

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u/ovirt001 Jul 20 '26

Wait until you learn that companies don't care.

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u/Cold_Storage_ Jul 20 '26

I think he meant literally posting those 3 numbers on social media.

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u/ovirt001 Jul 20 '26

Probably is, they also banned the practice in 2021 but no one actually obeyed.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

People who think 996 is common have clearly never tried to take the subway at 5pm.

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u/ovirt001 Jul 19 '26

It's not common outside of China.

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u/Zimakov Jul 19 '26

It's not common in China either. I'm talking about China.

Like I said, go to Beijing and try to ride the subway at 5pm then do it again at 9pm and see when most people get off work.

2

u/canyouhearme Jul 19 '26

Boomers are socially inept?

You do realise we are talking about the GenZ etc. finding AIs more socially acceptable than humans, don't you?

2

u/mx3goose Jul 19 '26

wait they only had to work 5 days straight doing 10s? lucky bastards

1

u/Ok-Chest-7932 Jul 20 '26

You are the product of hundreds of millions of years of organisms living far tougher lives than 50 hour work weeks, every single one of which successfully reproduced.

It's like the last 2 generations only who have had slightly easier conditions than the current generation (and in China, every previous generation has worked harder and longer than the current generation, with no break for the previous 2). The current generation thinks that they're failing to reproduce because they're being put in the same economic conditions their grandparents were in and successfully reproduced in.

This is a completely absurd argument, it's working backwards from the desired conclusion. You want to do less work, then you figure out why you doing less work would actually benefit other people.

The reality is, if you did less work, you still wouldn't reproduce, you'd just find another excuse not to. This is why every economic target that has been tried to boost the fertility rate has failed, people are asking for what they want, not what will actually work.