Doubao and Tongyi Qianwen Drop AI Agent Features Ahead of China Regulation

Chinese AI assistant apps Doubao (by ByteDance) and Tongyi Qianwen (by Alibaba) announced the removal of their AI agent features, effective July 15, 2025. Doubao will redirect users to ByteDance's Catbox app for related needs, while Tongyi Qianwen will permanently disable access to agent configurations and chat histories. Users are advised to back up data before the deadline. The move follows China's new regulation, the "Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic Interactive AI Services," jointly issued by five government agencies on April 10, 2025, which takes effect on July 15. The regulation aims to govern AI services that simulate human interaction, likely imposing stricter compliance requirements on data handling, content moderation, and user privacy.

Global Impact

This is a regulatory-driven product change specific to China's AI ecosystem. The new regulation on anthropomorphic AI services could set a precedent for other countries considering similar guardrails, potentially slowing the rollout of advanced AI assistants globally.