AI Layoffs Hit China as Beijing Pushes Adoption

Chinese workers are losing jobs to artificial intelligence as Beijing pushes AI and robotics into every corner of the economy, the Associated Press reports.

Beijing computer programmer Fei Zhaojun was laid off along with about 160 colleagues two weeks after his boss asked him whether AI could soon replace humans in coding jobs.

Economists told the AP the rollout may lift productivity while gutting employment — a risk in an economy already slowing.

What Is Happening

The share of Chinese industrial enterprises saying they use AI models and "agents" jumped to 47.5% last year from 9.6% in 2024, according to market intelligence firm IDC.

Humanoid robots now sort parcels in postal centers on a small scale and are being pushed into tasks such as directing traffic and making coffee, the AP reported. Food delivery robots are gaining ground nationwide, potentially threatening the livelihoods of millions of Chinese delivery workers.

Generative AI is increasingly used for creation, production and distribution in China's short drama industry. The number of live-action short and vertical video series made for mobile phones fell about 75% in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, according to Chinese media reports cited by the AP.

Du Qinchun, a part-time translator in Chengdu, has been helping train an AI model to do translations, which brought him more work — at least temporarily. "But it's true that the pay in the industry has been cut by more than half compared to what it was years ago," he said. College programs in foreign languages have fallen out of favor as AI translation tools spread.

A report from the International Labor Organization found women face higher risks of losing employment to AI than men, because they tend to work in areas more suitable for automation, such as assembling electronics, and are underrepresented in science and technology.

The Policy Behind It

Under China's "AI Plus" initiative and its five-year plan through 2030, the government is pushing to infuse AI across industries, aiming to gain an edge in its technology rivalry with the United States.

"What is specific to China is that the government is really into diffusing AI across the economy, so AI may get into different domains more quickly comparing to other countries," said Zilan Qian, a research associate at the Oxford China Policy Lab.

China's growth was already slowing. Consumer spending has lagged partly because people are reluctant to spend when they fear losing their jobs, on top of a prolonged housing downturn that has eroded household wealth.

Similar to their U.S. rivals, Chinese tech giants have cut or restructured tens of thousands of jobs, partly due to AI. China's overall urban unemployment rate hovers around 5%, but unemployment for people aged 16 to 24, excluding students, is roughly triple that.