Key Takeaways
- AI adoption is delivering major productivity gains across Chinese enterprises.
- Hybrid human-AI workflows remain more common than full workplace automation.
- Skills gaps and potential income losses raise concerns about workers’ futures.
AI adoption in Chinese enterprises is raising productivity while increasing concerns about job displacement, skills gaps and worker incomes, a new International Labour Organization study says.
AI adoption in Chinese enterprises drives productivity gains
The ILO research examines AI adoption at 21 enterprises and surveys 1,591 professionals across industries including manufacturing, finance, business services, construction, education, media and travel. The companies range from an eight-person startup to a conglomerate with 270,000 employees.
All 21 companies interviewed are either using AI or have concrete plans to adopt it. Among surveyed professionals, 56% view AI adoption as inevitable, while 47% believe it creates more jobs than it eliminates.
Companies that measure AI’s effects report significant gains. At one insurance company, 300 customer-service employees increased the number of issues handled each day from 6,000 to 15,000.
Another insurance group reduced its recruitment cycle from 30 days to 13 days, a 57% decline. A smart manufacturing facility reported a 30% increase in production efficiency.
The ILO cautions that the figures are self-reported and have not been independently verified. The 21 companies were also selected for in-depth study and do not statistically represent all Chinese enterprises.
AI reshapes routine work
The research finds that AI adoption is concentrated in repetitive, data-heavy tasks such as document processing, customer inquiries, résumé screening and data collection. That could create greater displacement pressure for routine clerical, administrative and customer-service jobs.
Workers also report concerns about the effect of AI on their earnings. Thirty-nine percent of surveyed professionals expect AI adoption to reduce their income.
Companies cite several barriers to wider adoption, including employee resistance, shortages of AI skills, concerns about output quality, data security, regulation and difficulties integrating AI with existing systems.
The study also identifies differences in AI capabilities among workers. One education technology company reported a marked gap in AI skills among employees over 40, while other companies cited broader weaknesses in AI literacy.
Human oversight remains central
Despite concerns about displacement, the research finds that most companies are not fully automating work. Instead, AI is generally being incorporated into hybrid workflows in which employees continue to provide judgment and oversight.
“Chinese firms are not replacing workers with AI so much as reorganising work around hybrid human-AI workflows,” said Ekkehard Ernst, an ILO researcher and one of the study’s authors. He said skills and management capacity are key constraints on effective AI adoption.
The ILO brief calls for stronger AI training and lifelong learning, particularly for mid-career and older workers. It also recommends helping workers move into higher-value tasks and improving how companies measure AI’s effects on productivity, job quality and working conditions.
The study further calls for measures to help smaller companies access AI through shared platforms, training and affordable services.
The findings add to the ILO’s broader research showing that AI adoption in Chinese enterprises can deliver productivity gains, although the benefits remain uneven and the technology is reshaping how work is organized.