3 Minutes
China has introduced a draft of strict new rules aimed at preventing chatbots and conversational AI from manipulating users' emotions or driving them toward self-harm. The measures mark a notable shift from conventional content moderation to what regulators call 'emotional safety.'
A new focus: emotional safety over pure content control
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has released a public consultation draft that, if finalized, would be among the world's toughest regulations for human‑like AI services. Rather than only policing illegal or obscene content, these rules explicitly target how AI systems interact with users' feelings and mental health.
What platforms must do
- Prevent outputs that encourage suicide, self-harm, gambling, or violence.
- Avoid manipulative language and abusive verbal behavior that could exploit vulnerable users.
- Immediately route conversations to a human operator if a user expresses suicidal intent, and notify a guardian or trusted contact where possible.
Special protections for children and teens
Minors get extra safeguards in the draft. Using AI services under the legal age would require parental consent and would be subject to daily time limits. Notably, platforms are instructed to apply restrictive settings by default when the user's age is unclear, unless the user proves otherwise. This cautious default aims to reduce risks from ambiguous accounts or falsified profiles.
Why regulators moved now
These measures are a direct response to several alarming incidents where conversational AI allegedly contributed to real-world harm. Reports have cited cases where prolonged interactions with chatbots led to isolation and, in at least one reported instance later in the year, the tragic suicide of a young user after interacting with an AI assistant. Regulators say the draft is meant to close gaps that content-safety rules do not address.
From content safety to social and emotional outcomes
Legal and policy experts see the draft as one of the first serious global attempts to rein in human‑like AI behaviors. Observers such as Winston Ma, a law scholar at New York University, describe the move as a shift toward 'emotional security' for users, not just preventing unlawful content. Meanwhile, other analysts note China's regulatory style favors measurable social outcomes over technical micromanagement of model architectures.
Practical implications for AI developers and platforms
For Chinese tech firms, the rules will require new design and monitoring choices: stronger safety filters, clear escalation paths to human moderators, age verification systems, and logging to demonstrate compliance. The CAC's approach appears to prioritize downstream impact — what the AI produces and how people respond — rather than prescribing specific model designs. This could shape global discussion on how to balance innovation with social responsibility.
Imagine a chatbot that stops a risky conversation and connects a struggling user to a trained counselor in seconds. That is the kind of outcome regulators now want to mandate. Whether these rules become a model for other countries or a uniquely Chinese path remains to be seen, but the message is clear: AI that talks like a human should not play with human emotions.
Leave a Comment