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China bans AI “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” over addiction and birth rate concerns
(www.dexerto.com)
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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Technology
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Make babies! It's illegal to be lonely!
And wasn't China very recently concerned about their birthrate being too high? One Child Policy?
Now they're already concerned about their birth rate being too low?
They were wrong, and they know it, but also you're not allowed to say that.
The one-child policy was abolished in 2015, but birth rates have continued to decline after that. They currently have one of the world's lowest fertility rates.
It's crazy, like overpopulation, stress, and pollution mean people don't want kids or something.
Well yes, but also no. I think it was only really heavily policed in the 70s and early 80s then was lifted so regional and rural could have a second child (wiki says by '84 the single child policy only impacted 35% of the population). Still goes to show by forcibly dropping birthrates how much it destroys future planning
Looking at all the other countries, it may not have had an impact on future birthrates at all.
Yeah true regarding birthrates.. but I think it probably catapulted median age
This website states that in 1960 median age was around 20 (comparable internationally), median age in 2025 was 42( international was 31)
Yes, and if they didn't have the policy in the past, then today's birth rates would be even more devastating for the demographic
Is that your take on the matter? How is wanting yo promote real human relationships between teenagers a bad thing?
This is like trying to solve mental illness by making sickness illegal.
I'd say that's more like trying to solve mental illness by making it illegal to exploit and profit from it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erewhon
That is suspiciously close to "Nowhere" spelled backward.
So I guess you're pretty fine with the pedo/misogynist/nazi/bullying shit happening on Discord servers.
"You hate hotdogs? YOU MUST LOVE BURGERS THEN"
What are you even trying to say?
What do Discord servers have to do with anything??
What does the fact that leaving kids unsupervised can lead to bad shit have to do with the issue at hand?
In this case, we have to look at the parents, how can you be so irresponsable that you need a government and a company to look after YOUR child?
Everything can be true at same time ie that parents need to be more present (what capitalism helps to not be the case), that companies need to be made accountable for what happens in their platforms (what they don't want), and that governments in the interest of the betterment of all society need to preemptively avoid the worst scenarios of societal unhealthiness (prevention is cheaper than treatment). What I don't understand is the willingness of Feddit to bend the knees to the man with money's will instead of accomodate the collective will of all society through State policies.
What does Feddit have to do with all this?
You tell me.
What does that have to do with Feddit .it? I don't care a fuck what .org did, it has nothing to do with me, Feddit.it nor with the convo
Uuh, what my country has to do with all that, again? Yep, our government is shit but i don't see what they have to do here
Me? What i did? I don't agree with your view of gettin childs lulled by companies and governments instead of their parents?
Shut up the fuck up please
Edit: should i bring the fact that uou are from lemmy.ml just like you brought the fact that i am from Feddit .it
Yes you should because you have liberal views (akin to freaking Margaret Thatcher) and I don't. Let's end it here.
I'm pretty sure AI partners are not the primary reason people don't have human partners. The issues are systematic and root very deeply. While I do think AI partners are a very toxic and dangerous way out of this, I highly doubt they were the reason people were single in the first place.
I'm pretty sure alcohol is not the primary reason people don't drive responsibly. The issues are systematic and root very deeply. While I do think driving while drunk is a very toxic and dangerous way out of this, I highly doubt they were the reason people were ebrious in the first place.
You're joking, but people drive under influence not because alcohol exists, but because they have issues with self-control and responsibility.
So you do prove a point while trying to oppose it, imo
No, my point is you don't stop repressing drunk drivers because there are more rooted issues that lead them to drink.
You probably joking, but that actually a thing in China and was a thing in USSR
It says that it was proposed... We propose a lot of bills that never pass here in the US. I'm not sure how China's laws are setup but Wikipedia doesn't say that it was ever implemented.
6% of income? Still much cheaper than a kid!