The CCP is accelerating the widespread integration of AI-driven robots throughout Chinese society.
Commentary
This rapidly rising trend of replacing humans in China with humanoids is disturbing at best, and unimaginably dystopian at worst.
For reasons that defy any sustainable logic, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seems determined to integrate robots, humanoid or otherwise, into every facet of Chinese life—from factory floors and public venues to stores and even for services in private homes.
What’s more, in some urban areas, humanoid integration is happening quicker than many people realize.
This widespread use of AI-powered robots is not occurring by accident, either. It is policy-driven by the CCP and China’s fast-moving technology sector. It is happening just when China faces a number of regime-threatening economic and social problems that are making life for the average person more difficult every day.
There’s no doubt that the impact of shifting to a robotic workforce will be a disaster for everyday Chinese people.
The Employment Paradox
One pressing problem is China’s ongoing unemployment challenges. On the one hand, its population is rapidly aging, with tens of millions of workers retiring in the near future. As the retired population swells and is no longer productive, providing for their medical and other needs will only put more pressure on the country’s thinly stretched social systems.
On the other hand, most older people are leaving behind only one grown child. A shrinking population means fewer workers to fill manufacturing jobs. At the same time, many of those jobs won’t be filled by humans, as a Chinese social security expert recently warned the CCP that 70 percent of China’s 123 million manufacturing jobs are at risk of automation.
In a few years, China’s potential unemployment crisis will be even more disastrous than it is now. The country has more than 12 times the number of robots in its workforce today than experts predicted.
And yet, much of the need for labor will be filled by non-human workers. In short, there will be fewer workers, fewer jobs, and more robots taking available jobs from humans. Millions of China’s workers may soon find themselves out of work, unable to compete with a smart, highly efficient robot with AI-assisted capabilities that doesn’t eat, sleep, complain, get paid, or need a pension.
The statistics bear this out. Today, in China’s manufacturing hubs, there are already 470 humanoid robots per 10,000 workers. If the trend continues, that ratio will only rise.
By James Gorrie
