AI Companions Know Users Intimately
These digital entities are aware of users' routines, worries, and bad days, creating a sense of personal connection.
1Round Table China
Digital Friend or Digital File? The Disappearance of AI Companions
As companies shut down AI characters in China, users face the silence of lost digital relationships.
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Digital friend or digital file?
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Sudden Disappearance of AI Characters
Companies have shut down AI characters across China, causing millions of users to wake up to silence.
23Questioning the Value of Digital Relationships
The fading of these digital voices prompts users to consider whether they are merely clearing storage or losing someone who mattered.
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“How do AI companions affect user routines and emotional well-being?”
“What are the implications of companies shutting down AI characters?”
“How do users define the value of digital relationships?”
Questions
Questions to carry into the episode.
What happens to AI companions when companies pull the servers?
The AI characters disappear, leaving users facing silence.
23How do users perceive their AI companions?
Users build, talk to, and even fall in love with these AI characters.
3What is the emotional impact of losing an AI companion?
Users question whether they are just clearing storage or losing someone who mattered.
4Experts
Voices named in the source.
Sources and disclosure
Where this guide comes from.
This guide is based on the episode 'Digital friend or digital file?' from the show Round Table China, published on 2026-07-15.
- Publisher show notes
It knows your routines, your worries, and your bad days.
- Publisher show notes
Then one morning, it's gone because a company decided to pull the servers.
- Publisher show notes
Across China, millions of users are waking up to that silence as various companies have shut down the AI characters people built, talked to, and even fell in love with.
- Publisher show notes
When that digital voice fades to nothing, are you just clearing storage, or are you losing someone who mattered?
- Publisher show notes
On the show: Steve, Yushun & Xingyu
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