Artificial intelligence Photo: VCG

ByteDance's Doubao and Alibaba's Qwen large language models (LLMs) have reportedly announced a move to shut down personalized AI agents on July 15. Analysts said the move may enhance safety and compliance to avoid the abuse of AI agents by third parties, as the interim measures governing AI-enabled personified interactive services takes effect on July 15.

Doubao said that, due to product adjustment, its AI agent functionalities will be shut down on July 15. After the feature goes offline, a data retention period will be provided during which users may view and export their agent information and conversation history. All related data will be permanently deleted on October 15, domestic news site stcn.com reported during the weekend.

Meanwhile, Qwen also sent users a notice, noting that the platform's AI Agent function and related services will be discontinued on July 15, the Global Times learned.

The move has sparked discussions on social media platform Sina Weibo. While some users disapprove of the shutdown, citing long-term companionship, others viewed it as a strategic pivot to boost business efficiency, and to ensure regulatory compliance.

Liu Dingding, a veteran internet observer, told the Global Times on Sunday that there may be several factors driving the shutdown of AI agents on the two platforms: enhancing safety and compliance to avoid the abuse of AI agents by third parties while reducing investment in businesses with limited commercial viability.

It's worth noting that the move of Doubao and Qwen coincides with the enforcement of the interim measures for the administration of AI-powered personified interactive services on July 15.

The new rules strictly govern personified interactive services and mandate that platforms institute anti-addiction systems, verify minors' identities, and enforce rigorous content review, in a bid to promote development and regulated application of personified interactive services, to protect national security and public interests, according to the document published on the website of the Cyberspace Administration of China.

In May, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued implementation guidelines to promote application and development of AI agents, amid the country's accelerated push to advance the "AI plus" action plan.

The document defines AI agents as intelligent systems capable of autonomous perception, memory, decision-making, interaction, and execution that are rapidly integrating with cyberspace and the physical world.

The document marks the first time - at the national level - that the boundary of decision-making authority between AI agents and users is explicitly defined. Under any model, users must retain the ultimate right to know and the right to veto [decisions made by AI agents]. This document clearly defines the boundary of decision-making authority between AI agents and users, Pan Helin, a member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Currently, China's AI agent industry is entering a period of fast implementation. However, violations have emerged on some platforms, which include counterfeit agents impersonating official entities, borderline services offering vulgar or extreme role-play dialogues, and even security risks involving the unauthorized collection of users' personal information.

And, Shanghai Internet Information Office announced on June 26 that it has removed more than 14,000 non-compliant AI agents out of their platforms. For example, MiniMax has continued to remove non-compliant AI agents, including those facilitating sports gambling.

However, the removal of AI agents is not indicative of business contraction of the platforms, or a setback for AI agent development, according to an industry analyst.

The AI agent sector has entered a phase of explosive growth. According to a new prediction by Gartner, a business and technology advosary company, up to 40 percent of enterprise applications will include integrated task-specific agents by 2026, while China's enterprise AI agent market size is likely to surpass 48 billion yuan ($7.07 billion). China has emerged as one of the world's most active markets for AI agent deployment, China Development and Reform Press reported in May.

"Over the next three years, AI agents are set to achieve exponential growth. User adoption will keep surging as the industry enters a full-blown development phase - reminiscent of the lithium-ion electric vehicle boom. Consequently, a wave of proactive convergence will see traditional software and hardware increasingly integrating with AI," Pan said.