As AI disrupts China jobs, could a dedicated insurance fund protect workers?

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As rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technologies reshape the workforce and increasingly displace menial jobs, China should establish dedicated insurance to protect those at risk of unemployment due to AI, an entrepreneur suggested in the lead-up to Beijing’s agenda-setting parliamentary meetings.

“China should pilot a special AI-unemployment insurance programme, adopting a government-led, commercially operated model,” said Liu Qingfeng, a National People’s Congress representative and founder and chairman of iFlytek, a voice-recognition software supplier with AI capabilities.

Following the surprising success of DeepSeek, the Chinese start-up that has released groundbreaking open-source AI models, the sector’s development has sent shock waves through the job market, with companies already planning lay-offs as automation takes over repetitive tasks.

Liu proposed “a dedicated fund to protect jobs most vulnerable to AI disruption while encouraging insurers to develop commercial AI unemployment products”, offering a broader range of unemployment-protection options for society.

He also called for an unemployment-risk early warning system to be set up in major manufacturing hubs such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and he said enterprises that employ AI at scale should submit social-responsibility reports detailing the number of displaced jobs and their re-employment plans.

China should also strengthen AI skills training, with a particular focus on providing free training opportunities for low-income groups, Liu added.