China's workers losing jobs due to rapid AI rollout
New Delhi, July 2
The deployment of AI in China is progressing at a much faster pace, triggering concerns of more job losses in an uncertain labour market, a media report said.
Taxi drivers in Wuhan were rendered jobless as driverless cabs were rolled out in the city. There was some relief, and drivers got back their jobs when some of these cabs suddenly stalled, causing traffic jams on the roads and the fleet was withdrawn for investigation, highlights the report by journalist Amy Hawkins in the Guardian newspaper.
Recent incidents of white-collar workers being replaced by AI have also added to the fears of large-scale unemployment resulting from the use of this new technology.
Addressing Shanghai's World AI Conference in July, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that AI should be "an important driver for shared prosperity and common security".
However, the report noted that the "goal is being pursued amid an increasingly fragile labour market".
"As well as suffering from high levels of unemployment, China has seen tens of millions of workers drop out of formal employment into the gig economy. According to one thinktank, the number of people in flexible employment will rise to 320 million this year, up from 160 million in 2019. That is about 44 pc of China's workforce," it said.
Across the country, as industries such as real estate and education have gone into a recession, workers have turned to ride-hailing apps to make ends meet. But now the rollout of robotaxis, one of the most popular applications of AI that is already in use in China, is threatening their livelihoods, the report pointed out.
Recent court rulings have awarded compensation to white-collar workers laid off by their firms to be replaced by AI. But many workers fear that the rollout of AI will leave fewer jobs in the market for them to get employment.
The report also highlights the experience of cinematographer Tian Zemin, who has been working in the film industry in Beijing for close to 20 years and has lost his job to AI.
"I spent six gruelling years working my way up to become a cinematographer, only to be replaced by a piece of software," the report cites him as saying in a social media post about AI.
Many analysts believe that China, where the government exerts significant control over the private sector, will be better placed than the US to contain the fallout from AI-related job losses. Beijing could, for example, instruct companies to comply with hiring quotas.
However, the dilemma is that these protections may not come in time to save jobs that are currently being lost, the report added.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The taxi driver story from Wuhan is heartbreaking. These are real people with families to feed, and suddenly a robot takes their livelihood. Technology should be our servant, not our master. We need to think about how to balance progress with humanity.
The cinematographer losing his job after 20 years is really sad. These are skilled professionals, not just manual laborers. AI is replacing creativity too. What's next? Are we going to have AI making our films and writing our stories? Human touch is irreplaceable.
India needs to learn from this. We can't just chase AI because it's trendy. The government should first ensure every citizen has basic skills and alternative employment options before pushing automation. Otherwise, we'll see the same chaos on our streets.
The article mentions that China may control this better than the US, but at what cost? Forced hiring quotas sound like a band-aid solution. The real issue is that no country has fully figured out how to handle AI's impact on employment. This is a global challenge.
The numbers are scary - 320 million in flexible employment by this year in China. That's a massive shift. We in India need to think about how to create jobs that AI can't take away - jobs that need human empathy, creativity, and local knowledge. It's a wake-up call. 🚨
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.