China's courts side with AI-displaced workers but job anxiety persists

0:00What makes a perfect cover song? One that's so good, it completely eclipses the original. On the latest All Songs Considered from NPR Music, we make a case for the greatest of all time. That is what I want out of a great cover. Something that picks up the thing that was in the song, but that was not made explicit. Check out new episodes of All Songs Considered in the NPR Music podcast every Tuesday. Today on State of the World, the country where courts are deciding in favor of workers displaced by artificial intelligence. You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening.

0:43I'm Christine Arismath. That country is China. Like in the U.S., Chinese workers are worried about being left behind by A.I. This summer, a court in southern China's Guangzhou City sided with the graphics designer who was replaced by AI, saying the dismissal was unlawful. Similar court decisions have happened across several Chinese cities, hailed as a victory for workers' rights. But as NPR's Jennifer Pak reports from Beijing, workers still have a lot to be anxious about. Economics graduate Eloen Wu is no stranger to AI.

1:26I use chatbots, she says, to help with my homework before. But when Wu got a recent internship at an AI startup in eastern China's Anhui province, she suddenly felt her AI skills were close to zero.

1:42It was a huge shock for me, she says, because I didn't know how advanced AI was already. I feel very afraid. She's been documenting these feelings on the social media platform Xiaohongshu. Will I be replaced by AI, she writes. It's a similar concern in the U.S., but in China, the push to adopt AI comes from the top leaders, and firms here are deploying AI at a scale that far outpaces those in America. Now the courts are stepping in. Take this case in eastern China's Hangzhou city. as reported by state broadcaster CCTV.

2:24A tech worker identified by the court only as Mr. Zhou was a quality assurance supervisor working with AI large language models. Eventually, AI took over his work, and the company dismissed him, which the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court deemed illegal.

2:44Judge Shi Guoqiang, who presided over the case, told CCTV, introducing AI to reduce costs is not automatic grounds for a company to end an employee's contract. Similar cases in China have seen courts side with workers. Legal protection is necessary, says Student Wu, but thinks it'll take some time to get right. Overall, Chinese laws are very protective of workers, says Guangli at the global law firm Taylor Wessing's Munich office. He specializes in Chinese employment and labor laws. If you compare to Germany, to Europe, to the U.S., to some extent, it is even more protective for employees. The issue is enforcement, says Eli Friedman, professor of global labor and work at Cornell University.

3:35The state does not have the capacity or, frankly, the interest to rigorously enforce its own laws. Chinese workers, he says, are vulnerable. Like Mr. Zhou's story. He may have won his case, but he's also 35. That's considered old for many Chinese tech companies. He might struggle to find work in China's sluggish economy. Nearly one in six grads couldn't find a job in June. Wu's now pursuing a master's degree.

4:06China's job market is already competitive, she says. AI just intensifies that competition. And it's only going to get worse as China and the U.S. are locked in an AI race. Again, Professor Friedman. You can't say that we want to dominate these industries in the future and then, you know, start clutching your pearls when people use those things to replace workers. As for Wu, every day she listens to a podcast or watches a video related to AI, to keep on top of the latest. Keep learning, she says. Experiencing AI and learning its limitations might make it less scary. It's keep up, she says, or get left behind.

4:50Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Beijing.

4:57That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening. This week on Here and Now Anytime, why older siblings may be more financially successful. It has to do with germs. Second born children exposed to more respiratory illness early in life were less likely to finish high school or college. All that and more on Here and Now Anytime on the NPR app and anywhere you listen to podcasts. The working class. It's a term politicians throw around a lot these days, but do we know what it actually means? Midterm elections are coming up, and on It's Been a Minute, we discuss who these candidates are really talking about.

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