TECH NEWS – Beijing is pitching AI as a story of jobs and productivity, not a threat – and it is doing so right in the middle of a parliamentary session, with the economy in need of growth levers. The official message arrives as the government promises to use AI to open up opportunities for 12.7 million university graduates finishing this year, while youth unemployment stands at a historic peak and 300 million people are set to retire over the next decade.
Beijing is selling AI as a story of employment and productivity, not as a threat. This is happening right in the middle of a parliamentary session, with the economy in need of growth levers – the official message arrives as the government promises to use AI to create opportunities for 12.7 million university graduates finishing this year.
China is linking this commitment to a very serious underlying problem: around 300 million people will retire over the next decade, putting pressure on pensions and productivity. Beijing has therefore just set itself a growth target of 4.5% to 5% – the lowest since the nineties – with youth unemployment at one of its historic peaks.
China’s new roadmap mentions AI more than 50 times and aims to bring it to services, manufacturing, healthcare, and education through its AI+ plan. In this vision, artificial intelligence does not only automate tasks; it is also supposed to plug labour gaps in industries with workforce shortages through robots, agents, and sector-specific models. Universities, for their part, are already moving in that direction.
What Do the Experts Say?
ShanghaiTech, for example, has created small AI specializations focused on critical thinking, creativity, and cross-disciplinary learning – skills the institution sees as less replaceable. However, not everyone buys the official narrative. Economist Alicia García-Herrero, for instance, warns in outlets such as Reuters of both wage pressure and the risk of rising youth unemployment if safety nets are not put in place.
Another critical voice also cited by Reuters is Cai Fang, who recalls that when technology enters the scene quickly, job destruction tends to arrive before job creation. The contrast is stark: while China promises AI-based jobs, robotaxis, autonomous delivery, and one-person companies are already causing unease.
Source: 3djuegos
