ByteDance, Alibaba disable AI companion bots

Major Chinese technology firms ByteDance and Alibaba are shutting down the customizable AI companion features within their popular consumer applications, a move directly tied to new national regulations on human-like artificial intelligence services that take effect on July 15.

ByteDance’s Doubao platform will disable its custom AI persona function on July 15, citing product function adjustments. The company stated that all related user data will be deleted or securely archived by October 15. Alibaba’s Qwen platform will remove its human-like interactive agents on July 10, with all broader agent functions going offline by July 15. Users will lose access to previous conversations and agent settings.

These features had allowed users to create and interact with personalized AI agents, transforming standard chatbots into named assistants, tutors, role-playing characters, or companions with distinct personalities and communication styles. The shutdowns follow a similar action by Tencent, which removed comparable agent tools from its Yuanbao assistant in June.

The companies are complying with the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Artificial Intelligence Anthropomorphic...