The centrist Brookings Institution’s Darrell West said something to Politico last year that should go without saying, but I keep coming back to it because, to me, it’s comedy through understatement: “The stock market could be doing great, but if unemployment is going up and AI is taking jobs — that’s not great for the average American.”
For now, the stock market is doing well and so are jobs. But Americans hate the economy anyway. They also don’t like AI. And they don’t seem fond of AI executives.
Over in China, things work differently. People seem to like and trust AI there. After Nigeria and India, China’s attitude toward AI is the third most trusting in the world, according to one survey. Other surveys say basically the same thing.
Here’s something that is probably not going to hurt that perception among members of the Chinese public: it turns out it’s illegal in China to lay someone off in order to replace them with AI automation. As first noticed by Bloomberg, a Chinese worker was told he had to take a demotion because his job had been automated, but he refused to take the demotion. He was fired for his refusal, but it turns out the company was not allowed to do that.
The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court made this determination late last month in a collection of rulings around AI. One part of the ruling (as translated by Google Translate) lays out a pretty intriguing principle: “Employers are prohibited from shifting operating costs to employees.”
Here’s a longer statement from this collection of rulings (emphasis added):
“[…] AI technology can be used to improve corporate efficiency, liberate labor, and enhance employee welfare. Companies can adapt to this trend, but they should also consider the legitimate rights and interests of workers and cannot use technological change as a pretext for unilaterally reducing salaries and terminating contracts.”
Anyway, Sam Altman, whose home has now been allegedly attacked twice, is probably glad he has what he calls, “underground concrete, heavy reinforcement basements.” Mark Zuckerberg also appears to be building a doomsday bunker in Hawaii. And once again, the economy is fine. For now.
