Why America Builds AI Girlfriends and China Makes AI Boyfriends (www.chinatalk.media)

The story links two regulatory moves to a global market scan showing how culture and product design shape very different AI companion ecosystems. On Sept. 11 the U.S. FTC opened an inquiry into seven companies (including Meta, OpenAI and Character AI) over concerns that chatbots can foster unhealthy dependency—especially among children and teens. Four days later China released its AI Safety Governance Framework 2.0, explicitly listing “addiction and dependence on anthropomorphized interaction” and even risks to social order and childbearing above classic “loss of control” fears. An original market scan of 110 AI companion platforms (using SimilarWeb and Sensor Tower) finds the U.S. dominates the global romantic/sexual AI market (52% HQs vs. 10% in China), with an estimated 29 million monthly active users and 88 million monthly visits for dating-themed bots. Technically and commercially, two engagement models dominate: community-oriented platforms that let users create and share many customizable characters (anime/photo-real styles, affiliate incentives, frequent switching) and product-oriented services like Replika that support one evolving partner and deeper bonds. Monetization is largely freemium and in‑app currency; top Chinese products layer gaming mechanics (gacha card draws), 1:N group chats, push messaging, WeChat integration and even NFC wristbands to strengthen ties. The result: U.S. platforms skew toward sexualized “AI girlfriends” appealing to young men and manosphere dynamics, while Chinese offerings foreground “AI boyfriends,” gamified monetization, and social-network integration. The divergence highlights distinct regulatory priorities and suggests cross-cultural risks—addiction, child exposure, monetized intimacy, and demographic impacts—demanding tailored technical safeguards (age verification, transparency, limits on push-notifications and memory features) and internationally informed policy responses.