And the real reason why? The courts are defending labour rights and NOT allowing companies to replace workers with AI.

As per a recent posting over on “The State Council Information Office (of) The People’s Republic of China” on April 30, 2026: (Source)

“A Chinese court has ruled in favor of a human employee in a labor dispute caused by AI replacement, which experts said may send a reassuring message to labor rights protection efforts in the age of automation.”

Furthermore, this was not the first time!

On December 26, 2025, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security released a set of arbitration cases for 2025, including a dispute triggered by AI-driven job displacement. In that case, the arbitration panel made it clear that 𝐀𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐥. It found that adoption of AI technology is a voluntary move to stay competitive and not one that is mandated or acceptable as a basis for human replacement and dismissal.

Furthermore, legal scholars in China are emphasizing that 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 and that while 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.

This is the thinking that will allow for actual progress and development.

AI is not intelligent, humans are still needed, and progress will be made when we stop accepting the BS that AI can replace us and instead only listen to and work with companies that state that appropriately designed, implemented, and/or restricted AI can augment us in our jobs and make us 3, 5, and even 10 times more effective — enabling us to be super human workers.

It might be too late for the US, but if Chinese courts continue to make rulings that indicate that 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐈-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, it won’t belong before China is truly dominating the world (since the US will have no competent employees left when everything goes to hell).