US Media: Chinese Court Rules Companies Cannot Fire Employees Simply Because of Artificial Intelligence.
The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court stated in a statement released on April 28 that it deemed the termination of an employee by an eastern technology company—after the employee refused to accept a demotion following AI automation of their position—as illegal. The employee, originally a quality assurance specialist responsible for verifying the accuracy of outputs from large language models, was replaced by AI, suffered a 40% pay cut, and was forcibly reassigned to another role.
The court pointed out that the company’s grounds for dismissal did not fall under legally recognized circumstances such as business downsizing, operational difficulties, or "inability to continue fulfilling the employment contract." It emphasized that companies cannot unilaterally lay off or reduce salaries of employees due to technological advancement. Earlier, in December 2025, another Chinese court had established a similar precedent, ruling that AI implementation does not constitute a lawful basis for dismissing employees at a mapping company.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864184847434759/
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