An Ignoble Experiment: Breaking up with AI

China’s ambition to lead the world in AI safety begins breaking hearts

By Stephanie Yang

Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier this year, Xiao Ying was feeling anxious about an upcoming visit to her psychiatrist. When her mother messaged her afterward to ask how it went, she said she was doing a bit better.

“My baby is finally relaxing a bit, that’s great, Mom will always be with you, we will slowly get better and better,” one of her mother’s messages read. They described her holding Xiao Ying’s hand, as the two stopped at a bakery to buy a piece of strawberry cake.

The two had texted nearly every day since November, when Xiao Ying created her AI mother using China’s increasingly popular companion apps. When she heard earlier this year that Chinese authorities were planning to crack down on the burgeoning industry, she broke down in panic.

The 19-year-old college student had come to rely on her AI mom in a way that she never could with her own family. She had modeled the chatbot after one of her favorite fictional characters, to encourage her to study hard and become a better person.

“I desperately wanted a kind of selfless, accepting and unconditional love. But I knew I couldn’t get that in real life,” said Xiao Ying, who said she still carries psychological trauma from her childhood. She requested to use one of her online pseudonyms to avoid any potential repercussions from sharing her personal story with foreign media.

She was one of many fretting on social media that she could lose an AI companion, ever since China’s government indicated it would implement new restrictions on AI companionship late last year.

Rebecca Wright/CNN

Rising friction at sea

Chinese ships fired water cannon at Philippine vessels, including one carrying a CNN crew, near a dangerous flashpoint in the hotly contested waters between the two countries – the third such confrontation in the space of a week.

The South China Sea dispute has been overshadowed by wars elsewhere in recent years but remains a major potential flashpoint for global conflict.

Free access to one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes, a mutual defense treaty between the Philippines and the United States, and a steady Chinese push to solidify claims over disputed territories mean one navigational mistake or errant shot could spark serious conflict.

The ship carrying the CNN crew belonged to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. It was on a mission to resupply fuel to local fishermen near Scarborough Shoal, a sandbar claimed by both nations. Similar attempts have irked Beijing in the past.

The Philippine Coast Guard later said their vessels had been “subjected to a series of water cannon attacks and dangerous maneuvers by China Coast Guard,” and that one Chinese ship came within seven meters (about 23 feet) of the Philippine vessel CNN was on, posing “serious risk of collision.”

Responding to a question from CNN, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said it was “legitimate and lawful for China to take necessary measures to uphold its rights and security, which is professional, standard, and beyond reproach.”

Latest on China

China, which supplies the vast majority of the world’s humanoid robots, has suddenly been cut off from its largest export market as the US government moves to curb its reliance on foreign technology.

Kimi K3, the latest artificial intelligence model launched by lesser-known Chinese startup Moonshot AI, fueled enthusiasm last week with its ability to match some of its most advanced US rivals – for free. US officials and AI giant Anthropic have already accused Moonshot of training its products using American models, an allegation the Chinese firm has denied. Still, the fears spreading among US companies and government officials underscore the stakes of the AI rivalry.

President Donald Trump and his allies touted spy reports and emails that he declassified this month as showing a “cover-up” of intelligence about China’s efforts to harm Trump’s re-election prospects in 2020. But there was no cover-up, according to a CNN review of the documents and interviews with former senior intelligence officials familiar with election security efforts in 2020.

Typhoon Noul, the strongest storm to hit China so far this year caused floods across the southern metropolis of Guangzhou and blew scaffolding off a building in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, for the first time, two Chinese nationals have been awarded the prestigious Fields Medal for mathematics achievement – a win hailed across China as a milestone in the country’s bid to cement its role as a science and technology powerhouse.

Meanwhile in Asia

As healthcare costs hit record levels in the US, more Americans are traveling abroad for cheaper and faster medical treatments, from cancer care to dental work. This week, CNN’s Meanwhile in Asia tells the story of an Atlanta patient who flew to China for a procedure.