Artificial intelligence has stormed into China’s job market, and anyone caught in the middle of this transformation knows exactly what that means in practice.
Fei Zhaojun, a 40-year-old programmer in Beijing, experienced it firsthand when his boss asked whether AI could replace humans in coding. Two weeks later, he and 160 of his coworkers were laid off. It was far from an isolated case.
China is adopting artificial intelligence at a pace few countries can match, and it is reshaping the lives of workers across a wide range of fields, from programmers to translators, from screenwriters to delivery drivers. Some are losing ground fast. Others are finding creative ways to reinvent themselves in this new landscape. And then there are those betting that, in the long run, automation could be more of an ally than an enemy, especially in a country with a rapidly aging population. But between theory and day-to-day reality, there is a whole lot of uncertainty along the way. What is happening to Chinese workers is, in practice, a preview of what the rest of the world could face in the coming years. 🌏
When AI becomes a direct competitor at work
Fei Zhaojun’s story is not an exception in China right now. Driven by government policies, Chinese tech companies have been integrating artificial intelligence tools directly into their production workflows, especially in areas that were once considered safe, like software development, content creation, and physical tasks. The practical result of this shift is that entire teams are being downsized, and the professionals who remain need to do more with less time and fewer people alongside them. The pace of adoption is so fast that many workers barely had time to understand what was happening before they received their layoff notices.
Until recently, Fei doubted that AI could code flawlessly, even though his bosses thought it was already close enough. As he puts it, the work of mid-level programmers is essentially replaceable in most cases. Even if that turns into a disaster down the road, he acknowledges that for now, the only option is to use the tool because everyone else already is. Today, he makes short vlog-style videos during a career break while he figures out his next move. The videos, which focus on the lives of everyday people, do not pay his bills yet, but he hopes they might help others.
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Interestingly, something stands out to those watching the Chinese market closely. According to Shujing He, a senior analyst in Beijing at research firm Plenum, there seems to be far less resistance to AI in China than in other places. Most people come across as positive, neutral, or mildly curious about the technology. She also notes that many who fear being replaced, or who have already left traditional jobs, are eager to experiment with independent businesses and projects powered by AI. The level of interest, in her words, is remarkable.
If you can’t beat them, join them
Facing such a challenging landscape, many Chinese workers are not just sitting back and accepting the situation. Du Qinchun, a part-time translator in the southwestern city of Chengdu, is a good example. He started helping train an AI model designed for translations, and that brought him more work, at least for now. The problem is the pay. According to Du, compensation in the industry has been cut by more than half compared to what it was a few years ago.
This trend is so clear that university programs in foreign languages, once hugely popular, have been losing their appeal as AI-powered translation tools become increasingly common. And the numbers back up this transformation. According to market intelligence firm IDC, the share of Chinese industrial companies that say they use AI models and agents jumped from 9.6% in 2024 to 47.5% in the past year. That is a massive leap in such a short period of time. 📈
According to Yanze Du, senior research manager at IDC in Beijing, China’s vibrant open-source ecosystem encourages greater innovation in applying AI to industrial settings, gradually bringing model capabilities closer to creating real value for businesses. Humanoid robots can already sort packages at postal centers, for instance, although still on a small scale, and they are advancing toward more human-like tasks such as directing traffic and making coffee. Food delivery robots are also gaining ground across the country, potentially threatening the livelihoods of millions of Chinese delivery drivers.
Generative AI is also becoming increasingly present in the creation, production, and distribution of China’s short drama industry. According to local media reports, the number of vertical short-form video series made for mobile phones dropped by about 75% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period the previous year. As Shujing He summarizes, tasks that once required specialized training can now be performed by nearly anyone with access to AI tools, something especially visible in software development and multimedia content creation. As a result, workers whose roles are heavily concentrated in these areas face a higher risk of displacement.
It is worth highlighting an important point raised by a report from the International Labour Organization: women face greater risks of losing their jobs to AI than men. This is because they tend to work in areas more susceptible to automation, such as electronics assembly, and they are still underrepresented in science and technology fields. It is a lens that shows how the impact of technological unemployment does not hit everyone the same way.
AI has mixed effects on a slowing economy
There is an angle to this story that often gets left out of the headlines about unemployment and automation in China. Under the initiative called AI Plus and the five-year plan running through 2030, the Chinese government is pushing artificial intelligence into a wide range of sectors, seeking to gain an edge in the tech competition with the United States. As Zilan Qian, a researcher at the Oxford China Policy Lab, observes, what is specific to China is the government’s commitment to spreading AI throughout the economy, which brings the technology into different domains faster than in other countries.
But this is all happening at a sensitive moment. Chinese economic growth had already been slowing down. Household spending has come in below expectations, partly because people are more cautious about spending out of fear of losing their jobs. Add to that the prolonged crisis in the real estate market, which has eroded a significant chunk of household wealth, and the picture gets even more complicated.
According to Eswar Prasad, a professor of economics and trade policy at Cornell University, China’s tech industries may be innovative and highly productive, but they might not generate many new jobs. In his view, AI will likely boost productivity overall, but it could have a deeply disruptive effect on employment, worsening the job creation problem and bringing negative consequences for social stability. Just like their American counterparts, China’s tech giants have already cut or restructured tens of thousands of positions, partly because of AI.
The job market outlook remains uncertain. China’s overall urban unemployment rate hovers around 5%, but among young people aged 16 to 24, excluding students, that number is nearly triple. On the other hand, over the long term, some experts believe unemployment rates could actually decline, since the country’s population of 1.4 billion is aging and shrinking rapidly.
Xuenan Cao, a professor at San Francisco Bay University who focuses on technology and society, points out that by 2050, China is expected to have fewer than two working-age adults to support each retiree, compared to more than 2.5 in the United States. In that scenario, automation could partially offset a shrinking workforce rather than being purely a threat to it. It is a perspective that does not solve the problem for anyone who lost their job today, but it puts the debate in a much broader context.
Some are embracing AI to find new paths
There is also a group of workers finding opportunities precisely in the gaps that AI still cannot fill. Wang Zhicheng, 32, used to rely on AI for brainstorming and fact-checking at his old job as a screenwriter at a company that produced 3D animated educational videos and interactive exercises for kids. When the company laid off about half of its 13 screenwriters, he chose to resign and go independent, creating children’s picture books.
Wang says that while AI sometimes saved time, the scripts it generated often sounded off. Episodes would turn out repetitive and rigid, and the level of detail devoted to the subject matter varied wildly. For him, AI can be treated as a tool, just like Word. Humans, according to Wang, are still the ones who decide what to pick or follow from everything AI generates. Today he runs his own studio, producing picture books and other creative work. 💡
High school chemistry teacher Yang Zheng, 29, also does not see AI as a threat to his job, even as students use the technology to help with their assignments. As he explains, teachers cannot be there all the time, and having a tool that responds in real time is actually a good thing for students, who can ask follow-up questions. He acknowledges that AI gets things wrong quite a bit, but notes that it has been improving over time.
Looking ahead, economists and tech experts suggest that the relationship between artificial intelligence and employment in China will depend heavily on how the country manages this transition. If there is serious investment in education, professional reskilling, and public policies that protect the most vulnerable workers during the adjustment period, AI could genuinely become a powerful ally in economic and social development. But if the logic of efficiency at all costs keeps prevailing without adequate social safeguards, the risk is deepening inequalities that are already quite visible. What China does now could serve as a lesson, for better or worse, for the rest of the world. 🤖
