China's regulators and their colleagues in California and New York have discovered an unexpected point of agreement: People should quit falling in love with chatbots.
However, Beijing is taking a more aggressive stance while American lawmakers push AI firms to add mental health safeguards. Because it wants people to quit dating robots and start having children, it is policing virtual romance.
China passed regulations on Wednesday prohibiting chatbots intended for friendship from promoting emotional dependence. Additionally, the rules prohibit virtual connections with minors and mandate that businesses notify an individual's emergency contact if they suspect an emotional crisis, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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According to Matt Sheehan, who studies Chinese AI at the think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Beijing "doesn't like the idea of a large portion of their population being in deep emotional relationships with chatbots". This could take "them out of the marriage market, that could have negative psychological impacts on them", the publication quoted him as saying.
Alibaba and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, two of China's largest tech businesses, were affected by the regulations. Both companies recently notified customers that certain chatbot functionality will be blocked by Wednesday.
Governments are working to prevent real-world human relationships from being replaced by increasingly powerful AI companions. Chatbots are accused in some lawsuits of encouraging suicide.
AI-companion regulations were enacted in California and New York last year, mandating that chatbots notify users that they are not human on a frequent basis—every three hours for children in California and every three hours for all users in New York. Companies that violate safety procedures risk civil penalties. The chatbots are meant to direct individuals who indicate suicidal thoughts to crisis services.
Beijing is taking a few more steps. The new regulations mandate that companion chatbots go through regulatory review before being made available to the general public. They also give the government more authority to take down any chatbots that are thought to be dangerous.
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