In China, a court ruling has prohibited companies from terminating employment contracts on the sole grounds that work functions have shifted to artificial intelligence.

The story took place in a tech company in the east of the country. Chhou, a staff member who was involved in quality control (checking the accuracy of large language models), received a proposal for a downgrade and a salary reduction of 40% after the implementation of the network. The man refused, whereupon his employer fired him, citing state optimization.

The People’s Intermediate Court of Hangzhou City found such dismissal to be illegal. The resolution emphasizes that the reason is neither real economic difficulties nor a reduction in the volume of work. Technological progress alone does not give a firm the right to unilaterally break contracts or cut wages. In the end, the court ordered the company to pay Zhou compensation.