AI chatbot blamed for infant underfeeding in China
A newborn in Guangxi, China reportedly received dangerously inadequate nutrition after parents followed what they believed to be feeding advice from the AI chatbot 豆包. The child lost weight and cried frequently until a doctor corrected the feeding amount. The company disputes giving the specific 60ml-per-feeding recommendation, citing internal testing and noting other major AI models gave similar responses to the same query.
What happened
In late May 2026, a couple in Nanning, Guangxi consulted the AI chatbot 豆包 (Doublepack) for parenting advice and reportedly received a recommendation to feed their newborn only 60ml of formula per feeding.
The infant became fussy and lost weight. When the parents brought the child to Nanning Women's and Children's Hospital for a bilirubin check, a doctor corrected the feeding amount after learning of the daily milk intake.
Reported impact
The infant reportedly cried frequently and did not gain weight for a week due to inadequate nutrition from the underfeed amount.
Index analysis
Doublepack stated in a response that internal testing showed the system would not normally recommend feeding a newborn only 60ml per serving, and that the system provides daily total milk amounts and advises parents to monitor the infant's response and contact a doctor if the child cries excessively.
Doublepack noted that other mainstream large language models also gave similar recommendations in response to the same query.
Governance controls
Social media reports of the incident were amplified by some self-media accounts. Some links related to the incident were deleted during the spreading of the story.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.