On December 27, China's Cyberspace Administration formulated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Artificial Intelligence Human-like Interaction Services (Draft for Comment) and sought public input. The draft mandates that service providers must establish a youth mode, providing customized safety features like options to switch modes, regular real-world alerts, and time restrictions on usage. Prior to offering emotional companionship services to minors, explicit consent from guardians is mandatory, and guardian control functions should be made available. These functions include real-time receipt of safety risk notifications, access to service summary reports, blocking specific characters, setting usage time limits, and preventing in-app purchases. Additionally, service providers should possess the ability to identify minors and, while safeguarding user privacy, have the option to transfer suspected minors to the youth mode and provide a channel for appeals.
