Technology

Chatting alone? What AI companions reveal about human relationships

How do you manage a relationship with a machine that is not as emotionally invested as you and may learn to read you over time as a friend would? Navigating the AI companions landscape depends not just on regulation but on how these products are designed to handle emotional responsibility, says US researcher Hong Shen.

Hong Shen

21 Aug 2026

Game studios have bought into AI, but players still aren’t sold

AI is flooding gaming with cheaper, faster content — but not necessarily better games. As China embraces AI-native play and world models, the industry faces a harder test: can AI deliver real innovation without drowning players in clones?

Caixin Global

21 Aug 2026

China bans AI companions from pleasing you too much. Should Singapore?

Millions in China lost their AI confidants overnight. Days later in Singapore, chatbots were asked to introduce themselves. Behind the two responses lies a question kings once faced: what do you do about a servant who never disagrees with you? Academic Ashton Ng ponders the question.

Ashton Ng

20 Aug 2026

AI micro-dramas do not understand people. Are we starting not to either?

The gliches in AI micro-dramas may have been fixed, but not their indifference to human nature. As we consume ever more predictable stories, are we also losing our patience for complexity — and our respect for what’s real? Han Yong May, deputy editor-in-chief of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, ponders the question.

Han Yong May

20 Aug 2026

Fudan targeted as universities become casualties of the tech war

Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have been placed on a US national security list, while China has targeted a European university. The moves signal a new era in which academic research is increasingly treated as a security risk. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei reports.

Sim Tze Wei

18 Aug 2026

Why the US-China space race needs air traffic control

The US and China are racing to expand their presence in orbit and beyond, but a crowded space environment needs what air and maritime travel have long relied on: shared rules and standards that make competition safer, more predictable and economically productive, says US researcher Clayton Swope.

Clayton Swope

17 Aug 2026

How a toy bamboo cicada stung Huawei’s public image

A traditional bamboo cicada toy triggering a major PR headache for Huawei highlights how corporate overreaction can fuel massive backlash in Chinese cyberspace. Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk looks into the matter.

China Desk, Lianhe Zaobao

17 Aug 2026

China bans AI lovers, but loneliness remains

When man bonds with a machine, depends on it and feels affirmed by it, is a void filled? But what if the mirage disappears or the relationship is taken to extremes? Researcher Renwen Zhang contemplates the psyche behind the rise of AI companions.

Renwen Zhang

14 Aug 2026

How China is funding its AI ambitions without US capital

China’s hard tech sector once relied heavily on US and other overseas capital. As geopolitical tensions closed that funding channel, Beijing built a multi-tier domestic capital system that is now reshaping how Chinese AI and semiconductor companies grow, exit and attract private investment, opines technology specialist Yin Ruizhi.

Yin Ruizhi

13 Aug 2026

China’s beverage king Zhong Shanshan: E-commerce is killing ‘real’ commerce

Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan’s attack on platform dominance has reignited a bigger debate: have e-commerce platforms become too powerful, and who ultimately pays the price? Lianhe Zaobao China news editor Yang Danxu examines the issue.

Yang Danxu

12 Aug 2026

[Video] Bilahari Kausikan: How to navigate the new world order

Bilahari Kausikan, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, examines how US-China rivalry is reshaping the global order, why China’s “China dream” narrative of national rejuvenation remains powerful but limiting, and how a more fluid, multipolar Asia will test the nimbleness of smaller states such as Singapore.

Chow Yian Ping

12 Aug 2026

ThinkCartoon (11 August 2026)

Heng Kim Song has been the freelance editorial cartoonist for Lianhe Zaobao since 1984. His cartoons are also featured in many major international publications including The New York Times, Asahi Shimbun, JoongAng Ilbo, South China Morning Post and Yazhou Zhoukan. His many awards include the Top Award in United Nations ESCAP’s Cartoon Competition and the Grafica Internazionale Award presented by Italian Museum of Political Satire and Caricature. Heng has also participated in many international exhibitions and events, including the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings held in Davos, Switzerland.

Heng Kim Song

11 Aug 2026