Chinese Companies Use AI but Fire Workers Quietly

Companies in China are quietly firing workers as they start using artificial intelligence tools. These companies want to use AI to get more work done faster. But they don't want the government to notice they are cutting too many jobs. Workers say their bosses are replacing people with AI programs that can do the same tasks.

Liu works for a big internet company in Hangzhou, China. She says her company started firing contract workers in March. This happened after the company told workers to use an AI tool called OpenClaw. The AI tool became very popular in China this year.

Chinese companies face a special problem with AI. The government wants companies to use AI quickly to make workers more productive. But the government doesn't want companies to fire so many workers that it causes social problems. If too many people lose their jobs at once, it could make citizens angry with the government.

Chinese law makes it hard for companies to fire lots of workers at once. If a company wants to cut more than 10% of its workers, it must get permission from the government first. Chinese courts have ruled against some companies that tried to fire workers just to replace them with AI. This legal protection makes companies more careful about their layoff plans.

Some companies are not just using AI to replace workers. They are also measuring how fast their remaining workers adopt AI tools. These companies track something called tokens, which measure how much AI computing power workers use. Managers use this information to judge how efficient their workers are.

The entertainment industry is seeing some of the biggest changes from AI. Small drama studios that make short videos are now using AI-generated actors and sets. This costs much less money than hiring real actors and building real sets. Ayase is a 22-year-old producer who was fired in February because of these changes.