China has cracked down on AI relationships. Is it ahead of the game? In early 2024, a young man in the city of Huangshi, south-eastern China, reportedly posted a message on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. Within minutes, the suicide prevention team at Douyin kicked into gear. The team, which is staffed 24 hours a day, shared the man's posts with five police stations in Huangshi. After geolocating one of his videos to a local park, police found him in emotional distress and intervened before he was able to take his own life.

Mashable Selects Creator Playbook Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more In My Bag Say More Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices Safety Net All Series A'masturbation consultant' for an AI companion company tells all We would be chatting on the platform, and it would get a bit steamy. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky .

China is cracking down on AI bots - leaving some users heartbroken. China is cracking down on AI bots - leaving some users heartbroken. In China, talking to AI is normal. Companion bots are being regulated over worries they foster'emotional dependence' and young people could stop marrying and having families When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was "heartbroken". She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January. "I was crying my eyes out - snot and tears everywhere," the 19-year-old says.

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Mashable Selects Mashable Voices Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series The latest country to enter the fray. Shannon Connellan is Mashable's Senior Editor, General Assignments, based in London. She has been Mashable's UK Editor (and still manages the illustrious UK team) and Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives searching for . A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror, and loves to nerd out with movie stars, filmmakers, and TV creators . New Zealand's Online Safety Bill hit parliament on Monday.

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable Selects Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag VidCon with Mashable All Series The job is to help people in relationships with AI bots. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky .

These'Masturbation Consultants' Were Hired to Pleasure Themselves With AI Joi AI hired 10 people to masturbate using AI companions as part of a monthlong "wellness" study. The company claims the practice could help "solve male loneliness." For 28 days, Keshav had a new item on his daily to-do list: masturbate for research purposes. Both before and after self-pleasuring, he logged his mood, energy levels, cravings for various vices, and whether he was procrastinating. Keshav was taking part in AI companion company Joi AI's experiment assessing what happens if erotic self-stimulation becomes "an AI-guided wellness ritual."

Intelligent audio and intuitive tools are transforming collaboration from connection to creativity, says Sam Sabet, chief technology officer at Shure, and Brendan Ittelson, chief ecosystem officer at Zoom. When work went remote, the sound of business changed. What began as a scramble to make home offices functional has evolved into a revolution in how people hear and are heard. From education to enterprises, companies across industries have reimagined what clear, reliable communication can mean in a hybrid world. For major audio and communications enterprises like Shure and Zoom, that transformation has been powered by artificial intelligence, new acoustic technologies, and a shared mission: making connection effortless. Necessity during the pandemic accelerated years of innovation in months. Audio and video just working is a baseline for collaboration, says chief ecosystem officer at Zoom, Brendan Ittelson. That expectation has shifted from connecting people to enhancing productivity and creativity across the entire ecosystem. Audio is a foundation for trust, understanding, and collaboration.

EVA AI created a pop-up romantic date night at a Manhattan wine bar to help in making AI-human relationships a "new normal." If you're the type of person who cares about Valentine's Day, not having someone to spend it with can be a bummer. While dating apps have been yielding diminishing returns for singles for years now, more people are finding companionship with AI partners . But where do you take your AI lover for a night on the town? Ahead of Valentine's Day, EVA AI decided to try out an experiment.

Three in four teens use artificial intelligence companion chatbots for emotional support, raising safety concerns after suicides were linked to these interactions.

The international AI safety report warns systems are improving rapidly - but remain prone to'hallucinations' and hard to control. The international AI safety report warns systems are improving rapidly - but remain prone to'hallucinations' and hard to control. The International AI Safety report is an annual survey of technological progress and the risks it is creating across multiple areas, from deepfakes to the jobs market. Commissioned at the 2023 global AI safety summit, it is chaired by the Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, who describes the "daunting challenges" posed by rapid developments in the field. The report is also guided by senior advisers, including Nobel laureates Geoffrey Hinton and Daron Acemoglu.