Source: The Guardian

A Hangzhou intermediate people’s court ruled in favour of a worker surnamed Zhou and ordered his former employer to pay 260,000 yuan in compensation after the company dismissed him on the grounds that artificial intelligence could perform his duties. Zhou had joined the unnamed tech company in Hangzhou in 2022 as a quality assurance supervisor overseeing large language models; the employer offered him a demotion and a 40% pay cut and fired him when he refused. The court held the dismissal was wrongful and awarded the compensation (reported as more than £28,000), a decision that state media described as sending “a reassuring message to labour rights protection efforts in the age of automation.”

The article places the ruling amid growing concern over rapid AI integration and job losses, noting high youth unemployment at 17% for those aged 16 to 24 and widespread public enthusiasm for AI (an Ipsos survey cited finds over 80% of people in China excited about AI products). It also references a Beijing arbitration published last year where a committee concluded that adopting an automated data-collection tool did not constitute a “significant change in objective circumstances” justifying termination and urged employers to assume social responsibilities. Commentators such as Jeremy Daum of Yale’s Paul Tsai China Centre are quoted saying employers cannot simply pass transition costs from foreseeable, controllable tech upgrades onto employees; the piece highlights these legal decisions as part of a broader shift in messaging about AI and employment in China.