Can China Embrace AI Without the Job Losses?

In the summer of last year, a Chinese vice premier convened a meeting with the country’s largest employers—tech companies, banks, and car manufacturers—to ask a pointed question: how would AI affect their workforces? What he heard shook him. Some companies reported that fully adopting AI could eliminate 30% or more of their existing roles, according to people familiar with the situation. The meeting set off a quiet but consequential shift in Beijing’s approach to artificial intelligence, one that tries to embrace the technology while preventing the job losses that have become routine in the United States.

The government’s warning and the “AI Plus” strategy

Late last year, China’s government warned employers not to cut jobs as they adopt AI. The directive was not a formal law but a clear signal, and it has rippled through the economy. Companies are now required to explain large-scale layoffs to regulators before executing them, and in some cases must prove that the cuts are not driven by AI replacing workers. At the same time, Beijing released a national plan called “AI Plus,” which focuses on deploying AI in manufacturing and logistics—sectors less sensitive to white-collar job displacement. The strategy is deliberate: embrace automation in factories and warehouses, where job losses are politically less explosive, while slowing the technology’s spread into the office jobs