China drafts AI rules for digital humans to protect minors

China’s draft rules on “digital humans” mark one of the first attempts by any major jurisdiction to regulate the interaction layer between people and AI avatars, not just the underlying models. By forcing clear labelling, banning virtual romantic or family-style relationships for minors, and tightening consent rules around likeness and voice, Beijing is trying to get ahead of AI companions and synthetic influencers before they fully mainstream. For anyone watching the race to AGI, this is a signal that regulators are moving from abstract principles to very concrete guardrails on how advanced AI is allowed to show up in everyday life.([china.org.cn](https://www.china.org.cn/2026-04/06/content_118421206.shtml?utm_source=openai))

Strategically, these measures will shape how Chinese tech giants like Baidu and Tencent commercialize digital humans in livestreaming, customer service, and gaming: compliance teams now need to be baked into product design, and “safety-by-design” for avatars becomes a competitive requirement rather than a nice-to-have. At the same time, this gives China a narrative edge in global AI governance debates: it can point to detailed rules on minors, consent, and content boundaries while other jurisdictions are still debating basics. Over time, companies deploying AI companions globally may treat CAC’s framework the way they do the EU AI Act today—an effective upper bound that informs their global designs, even if they never operate in China directly.([cybernews.com](https://cybernews.com/ai-news/china-ban-ai-digital-humans-virtual-relationships-children/?utm_source=openai))