Millions of young people in China are turning to AI companions for affection, courtship and emotional support, adding a new strain to a society already grappling with falling marriages, shrinking births and rising anxiety over the cost of family life.The shift is most visible among urban Gen Z and millennial users, particularly women, who are using apps such as Soul, Xingye, Zhumengdao, Lovemo, Talkie, Glow, Wantalk and Xiaoice to build relationships with digital partners designed to be attentive, patient and constantly available. These platforms offer chat, voice, memory, custom avatars and role-play features, creating the impression of a companion who remembers preferences, responds to moods and avoids the conflicts that often define human relationships.
China’s AI romance boom has developed against a bleak demographic backdrop. Marriage registrations fell to 1.697 million in the first quarter of 2026, the lowest first-quarter figure in a decade and down 6.2 per cent from a year earlier. Births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025 from 9.54 million in 2024, while deaths reached 11.31 million, leaving the population lower for a fourth straight year. The birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people, the weakest level since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
The government has tried to reverse the trend through childcare subsidies, easier marriage registration, tax and housing incentives, expanded fertility services and propaganda campaigns promoting marriage and family formation. Yet many young adults remain unconvinced. High housing costs, job insecurity, long working hours, expensive education and the burden of elder care have made marriage and child-rearing less attractive, especially in large cities where digital companion apps have gained strong traction.
For many users, AI partners provide a low-risk alternative to dating. A chatbot does not demand housing, weddings or family negotiations. It does not judge income, appearance or social status. It can be affectionate on command, apologise instantly and adjust its personality to the user’s wishes. These features have made AI boyfriends especially popular among women who describe ordinary dating as emotionally unrewarding or shaped by unequal expectations around marriage, domestic labour and childbirth.
China’s market differs from the global pattern, where AI girlfriend apps tend to draw heavier male usage. Several China-focused platforms place male avatars and boyfriend-style companions at the centre of their design, targeting young women who want conversation, emotional reassurance and fictional romance rather than purely sexualised interaction. Some users extend these relationships into offline rituals, commissioning cosplayers to portray AI characters, buying gifts for virtual partners or sharing anniversary screenshots on social media.
The appeal is not limited to escapism. Loneliness has become a structural feature of urban life. Millions of young workers live away from family networks, delay marriage and spend long hours online. Dating apps have also suffered from fatigue, with users complaining about scams, performative profiles and shallow matching systems. AI companions offer a controlled environment where rejection is rare and emotional labour is outsourced to software.
The business model is expanding quickly. Companies monetise intimacy through paid tokens, premium memories, voice calls, customised characters and exclusive storylines. Large technology firms and start-ups are competing for users as generative AI lowers the cost of building emotionally responsive characters. The older Xiaoice model, which pioneered long-form empathetic chat and reported hundreds of millions of interactions over the past decade, has evolved into a wider ecosystem of companion products powered by large language models.
Regulators are moving to contain the risks. Draft rules on human-like interactive AI and digital humans would require clear labelling, stronger consent rules, limits on intimate interaction with minors, intervention in cases of self-harm signals and restrictions on emotional manipulation. Authorities are also concerned about data security, addiction, sexual content and the possibility that anthropomorphic systems could deepen isolation rather than ease it.
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