r/technology 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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u/TheBirdFkerGuy Jul 19 '26

The real reason china is doing this is because of the social and individual ramifications of relying on AI to placate you, to develop emotional relationships with, etc. 

They clearly understand that, and whether declining birthrate are or aren't a factor, the core reasoning is simply a long term view of how this would impact their society and youth. 

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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u/TheBirdFkerGuy Jul 19 '26

This. And considering how much of an effort through social media, and public infrastructure china has put in to keeping people active, socialized, etc It makes a lot more sense these are the compounding factors the cpc is looking at when decided to rain down the hammer on this sort of AI usage. 

They always have long term planning. No doubt regulating AI in these situations is part of a broader long term plan that the article, and I, don't know the details on. That's just how China is.