Globally, hundreds of millions of users now interact regularly with AI companions. The World Health Organization has declared loneliness a global health threat. AI companions offer an immediate, if unproven, response.  In 2014, Microsoft launched Xiaoice in China, an AI companion designed not to answer questions efficiently but to sustain long, emotionally textured conversations. By […] The post US, EU and China profoundly split on AI intimacy appeared first on Asia Times.