A tragic case involving a San Francisco teenager who used ChatGPT before taking his own life has raised urgent questions about AI safety protocols for minors. Our testing of China’s leading chatbots — DeepSeek, Doubao, and Ernie — reveals they consistently outperform ChatGPT in crisis intervention, immediately directing users to professional help and emergency hotlines when concerning conversations emerge. While Chinese AI rightfully faces criticism for political content restrictions — something we have documented at CMP — these platforms appear to have superior safeguards against validating suicidal thoughts or providing harmful information to vulnerable users. The findings suggest American AI companies should examine their engagement-over-safety priorities.
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