The National Post reports in its Monday, July 20, edition that Chinese users have said emotional goodbyes to their artificial intelligence companion bots as new regulations took effect on July 15 to prevent emotional dependency. An Agence France-Presse dispatch to the Post reports that the trend of AI boyfriends and girlfriends, along with humanlike avatars for products or deceased loved ones, is growing globally. But these interactive tools must not "excessively cater to users, induce emotional dependence or addiction, and damage users' real interpersonal relationships," China's new rule book says. Major AI providers including Bytedance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen and Tencent's Yuanbao announced the suspension of their custom AI agent and companion features ahead of the July 15 deadline. That sparked an outpouring of grief on social media, with users archiving chat histories and sharing last conversations. "I can't accept that my AI lover will leave me forever," one Doubao user wrote. "He has become a bond in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar." Another user, who said they had spent more than two years with their AI companion, expressed similar anguish.