The Impact of the AI Revolution on China’s Workforce

Artificial intelligence adoption across industries in China is accelerating workforce displacement, leaving middle-tier software developers, translators, and content creators facing severe job market pressures, according to reporting by Kompas.com and companion outlets.

Data from the International Data Corporation shows that the share of industrial enterprises in China utilizing AI models and agents surged from 9.6 percent in 2024 to 47.5 percent in 2025. That rapid technology integration has triggered widespread workforce adjustments, particularly in technical fields. Fei Zhaojun, a 40-year-old computer programmer in Beijing, was laid off alongside approximately 160 coworkers just two weeks after management questioned whether artificial intelligence could replace human coders, as reported by Kompas.com.

Workforce Pressures in Software Development and Media

Coding positions at the middle level face near-complete automation risk across most use cases, according to affected professionals. Fei noted that firms deploy the technology primarily because competitors do, creating immense pressure on traditional development roles.

Creative industries face similar disruption. Chinese media reports indicate that short-form drama production utilizing human actors plummeted by roughly 75 percent as studios transition to AI-generated video. Wang Zheng, a 32-year-old screenwriter who previously worked on 3D animated educational videos, resigned after her employer cut half of a 13-person writing staff. Wang now produces independent children’s picture books while utilizing AI assistance tools. Meanwhile, freelance translators like Du Qinchun in Chengdu find themselves hired primarily to train automated translation models, while facing industry pay cuts exceeding 50 percent compared to prior years.

Broader Economic Context and Demographic Shifts

These workplace disruptions intersect with challenging macroeconomic conditions for young adults in China. While overall urban unemployment hovers near 5 percent, the jobless rate for individuals aged 16 to 24 remains roughly triple that figure, excluding students.

This employment friction compounds a rapidly aging and shrinking demographic profile. Projections indicate the country of 1.4 billion people will have fewer than two working-age individuals to support each retiree by 2050. That ratio sits well below the United States, which is projected to maintain more than 2.5 working-age residents per senior over the same period. Automation is also expanding into physical tasks, with humanoid robots deployed for sorting postal packages, managing traffic, and brewing coffee on a small scale, alongside a growing presence of food delivery robots on city streets.

Differing Public Sentiments Toward Automation

Despite widespread displacement in specific sectors, public reception toward artificial intelligence varies significantly compared to Western markets. Plenum analyst Shujing He observed that anti-AI sentiment appears notably lower in China, with the general population maintaining largely positive, neutral, or curious stances.

Some professionals view the technology as a practical operational asset rather than a direct threat. Yang Zheng, a 29-year-old high school chemistry teacher, noted that AI assists classroom instruction by providing students with real-time answers and follow-up capabilities when human educators are unavailable. Tasks that previously demanded specialized training can now be handled by almost anyone with access to digital tools, reshaping expectations across software engineering and multimedia production.