Regulators eye disclosure rules for AI romance apps
EU privacy leaders signal stronger transparency requirements for memory retention and consent workflows in companion bots.
At the Brussels AI & Society Forum this week, regulators from Germany and France floated early language for disclosure rules that would apply to companion AI products. The draft guidance pushes for explicit badges when a conversation involves synthetic media and demands that memory retention settings default to granular consent screens.
Industry representatives argued that heavy-handed disclosures could break immersion, but regulators countered that relationships with AI agents often blur lines that traditional chatbots never crossed. European Data Protection Board members suggested that romance or intimacy-oriented apps might need a separate compliance certification.
The proposal remains in the consultation phase, yet several companion app founders told AIGF.guru they are already testing UX tweaks. Expect to see more transparent memory dashboards, contextual reminders that you're talking to an AI, and maybe even third-party auditors reviewing how these systems respond to vulnerable users.