China's Courts Rule Workers Can't Be Fired Just Because AI Replaced Them — and the US Has No Such Protections Recent court rulings in Hangzhou and Guangzhou have dealt a significant blow to employers who think they can fire workers simply because their jobs are being replaced by artificial intelligence.
The cases demonstrate that China's labor laws still lag behind the rapid pace of technological progress. The case of Zhou, a worker at a tech firm in Hangzhou, is instructive.
When AI took over his job verifying large language models, Zhou was offered a reduced salary or reassignment to a lower level position. He declined both options and was subsequently fired.