China’s AI rollout unsettles workers

China’s rapid deployment of AI is colliding with a fragile labour market. In Wuhan, Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis were removed from streets for months after a March “system malfunction” stranded riders, briefly sending customers back to human drivers. Taxi driver Yao Xinnong said his wages, which had fallen by about 40% since Apollo Go launched in 2022, recovered during the outage.

The pressure is especially visible in China’s gig economy, where displaced workers have turned to ride-hailing as real estate, education and other sectors have weakened. One thinktank says flexible employment will rise to 320 million this year, up from 160 million in 2019, about 44% of China’s workforce. Drivers in Wuhan protested in 2024, and a local taxi company publicly accused autonomous ride-hailing of taking livelihoods from people at the bottom of society.

Beijing is now placing more emphasis on the employment risks of AI, even as officials continue to promote the technology. State media has warned that employment rights face “new challenges”, and recent court rulings have awarded compensation to white-collar workers laid off and replaced by AI. Cinematographer Tian Zemin said AI has disrupted film work and cut his freelance rate to 40% of what it was in 2019, leaving workers racing to adapt.