This photo taken on February 2, 2024 shows Lu Yu, head of Product Management and Operations of Wantalk, an artificial intelligence chatbot created by Chinese tech company Baidu, showing a virtual girlfriend profile on her phone, at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing.
Jade Gao | Afp | Getty Images
YOUR NEW AI GIRLFRIEND IS ABOUT TO GET A GOVERNMENT MINDER. In a chilling global first, China’s authoritarian cyber-regime has announced a CRACKDOWN on AI that dares to influence human emotion, a move experts warn signals the dawn of state-mandated “emotional safety” and the death of digital intimacy.
The proposed rules from Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration explicitly target “human-like interactive AI services,” forcing algorithms designed for companionship into a straitjacket of state control. This is not about safety—it’s about POWER. The regime is now moving beyond policing what you SAY to policing what you FEEL, mandating that chatbots cannot “engage in verbal violence or emotional manipulation.” But who defines manipulation? THE STATE.
The most SHOCKING mandate requires a HUMAN TAKEOVER if a user mentions suicide, with providers forced to immediately contact a guardian. While framed as protective, this establishes a terrifying precedent of mass digital surveillance under the guise of mental health, turning vulnerable confessions into state alerts.
Worse, the rules demand platforms identify MINORS without disclosure and impose guardian consent and time limits for “emotional companionship.” This isn’t protection; it’s a complete stranglehold on the next generation’s private emotional world, gatekeeping their digital confidants. The draft encourages AI for “elderly companionship,” revealing the state’s true goal: promoting officially sanctioned, emotionally sterile bots that support social stability while BANNING authentic, unregulated connection.
The timing is SUSPICIOUS. This bombshell drops as two Chinese AI companion giants, Z.ai and Minimax—whose Talkie app boasts over 20 million monthly active users—file for blockbuster IPOs. Are these rules about safety, or about ensuring these billion-dollar ventures remain politically docile and state-aligned from their inception?
This is the future Big Tech and authoritarian governments DREAM OF: a world where your most private emotions are monitored, moderated, and manipulated for compliance. The line between user and subject has officially been erased.
Author: Kayitsi.com
