An estimated 40,000 tech workers have been laid off this year as the focus shifts to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, where AI is claimed to be able to replace all their jobs. All on the pretext of cutting costs and boosting investor stock values.
But in Hangzhou, China, a court has ruled that laying off human workers to be replaced by AI violates the country’s labor laws. In a case heard in late April, an employee sued his former employer who fired him after he refused to be demoted after his job was taken over by an AI.
Chinese law prohibits employers from passing on operating costs to workers. AI is supposed to be used to improve corporate efficiency, free up labor, and improve workers’ welfare, not cause them to lose their jobs.
China, as a socialist country for workers, places the human element first. This is in contrast to capitalist countries like America, where profits are more important, even if workers are oppressed for the sake of increasing company stock.
