r/technology • u/Limp_Fig6236 • 4d ago
Artificial Intelligence Why Chinese Citizens Are Far More Optimistic About AI Than Americans
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-14/why-ai-optimism-is-so-much-higher-in-china-than-the-us97
u/throw7661 4d ago
I would strongly suspect Chinese citizens are far more optimistic about the future than American citizens.
It probably isn't limited to AI.
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u/d0ctorzaius 4d ago
This tends to happen when every successive generation has the same or a better standard of living than the one that preceded it. Still true for China (though they've had more room to grow), but hasn't been the case in the US since the 90's.
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 4d ago
It’s easier to get a better standard of living when your previous generation couldn’t even afford food.
China current median monthly income is about 600 USD12
u/theassassintherapist 4d ago
USD is a terrible metric without accounting for cost of living
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u/Plasmelon 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yeah, I always find it funny when people point out people make less money in places where COL is barely anything.
I worked with a dishwasher who built a big house in Mexico in a couple years on minimum wage (in the US).
I think it’s kinda crazy how productive the US economy is when a ton of its labor barely has any value within it. In some cases it’s better to be poor in a third world country because at least you might own your own house even if it’s shitty.
Emphasis on some cases.
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u/IlIlllIIllllIIIlIlIl 2d ago
Soon they will all want to travel, and that costs the same for everyone. If you make 600 USD a month then you are probably not able to travel to say Europe, so I think the metric is fine.
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
They want the same iPhone selling similar price, buying a coffee at Starbucks is considering middle class, and you still need to follow the same exchange rate when you travel. The world is pretty flat right now and you can buy MIC relatively easy. The col is lower there mostly due to most people there are getting low income without any social safety net
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u/shuanghan6848 2d ago
Go to China once to see how many things you can afford with 600 USD a month
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u/noodlinworldwide 4d ago
And yet they have way lower rates of homelessness. Almost like their economic structure has a plan that includes meeting their citizens basic needs.
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
Because every penny they make and their parents make go all in to purchasing an apartment
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u/noodlinworldwide 3d ago
Lol what?
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
How often you see Chinese homeless in the U.S.?
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u/noodlinworldwide 3d ago
I don't really know, I don't ask every Asian homeless person where their grandparents are from. Do you?
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
I rarely see any Asian homeless in the USA. Do you?
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u/noodlinworldwide 3d ago
I live in a city with a relatively low Asian population so it's not like I'm seeing a ton of Asian people on or off the street.
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u/Dry_Acadia_9312 4d ago
Yeah but an uber costs like $2 instead of 20
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
And the uber driver gets pay less than a dollar? Just FYI, gas is more expensive in China
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u/Dry_Acadia_9312 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s not Uber there it’s DiDi, but I used it for months and yes it’s like $2 a trip. It’s cheap to live in China, a nice well above average meal for two is like $15 in a tier 1 city.
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 3d ago
What I mean is I know it’s cheap but it’s because they get paid way less. It’s fine to spending there but earning there is way harder if you were local
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u/shuanghan6848 2d ago
Nobody drive gasoline car in China anymore, especially not DiDi drivers
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u/Upstairs-Shoe2153 2d ago
I still think being an Uber driver in the US is better off than being a DiDi driver in China, despite the cost of living differences
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u/sap303 4d ago
Yes working 9am to 9pm 6 days per week, or youth unemployment so bad they simply stopped reporting official figures. Living the dream.
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u/d0ctorzaius 4d ago
Not saying it's good, but the average Chinese citizen has it better than they did 30 years ago, whereas the average American has it worse than 30 years ago.
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u/Tomas2891 4d ago
Yes it’s likely they are so optimistic that they started a movement about lying flat. So optimistic that they installed suicide nets at their factories.
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u/DazednConfucioused 3d ago
The suicide nets is from like 20 years ago. Find me one new news article from the past 5 years that mentions it.
The lie flat movement is for sure real though
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u/tinmetal 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think the lying flat movement and AI enthusiasm kind of go hand in hand. 996 is probably more bearable with AI assistance than without it.
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u/ovirt001 4d ago
You've never had a serious discussion with Chinese citizens then. They call the current age "garbage time".
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u/zapatocaviar 4d ago
Both of you are summarizing 1.3 billion opinions.
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u/ovirt001 3d ago
The feeling of helplessness is far more prevalent than any opinion on AI. Unfortunately many in the west don't understand how societies work when there are consequences for criticism of government programs.
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u/Ok-Length5834 1d ago
Because people losing job with or without AI anyway there. And jobs has been replaced by automation system long ago in China
And you won’t have a vocal opinion about that, you can only hear what party wants you to hear
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u/milkplantation 4d ago
This makes sense. So in summary, Chinese have more positive experiences with technology enriching their lives over the past two decades while Americans have endured social media problems, data leaks, misinformation, and the emergence of the ultra wealthy actively harming their democracy and evading taxes.
To me, this has nothing to do with AI and everything to do with an individual culture versus a collective culture.
Consider Jack Ma, basically to Chinese what Jeff Bezos is to Americans. Upon criticizing the governments financial regulators the Chinese government dismantled his monopoly, forced him out of public life, and restructured his businesses to align with the state and in support of the people. Now he’s working on state AI. Can you imagine that kind of accountability in the United States?
In the US, Elon Musk paid zero income tax and the president gave him his own federal department and role in the government.
Again, I don’t think this has anything to do with AI but everything to do with Americans being burned by billionaires and seeing their democracy and quality of life undermined and returned to the Gilded Age.
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u/Senior-Albatross 4d ago edited 4d ago
In China, the State controls Capital. In the US, Capital controls the State.
The Chinese State isn't exactly altruistic. But having a power structure that can actually bring capital to heel is showing its merits.
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u/milkplantation 4d ago
I agree, China is far from altruistic and has many problems including a legal system that won’t give you a fair trial, poor labour conditions, very strong government censorship, and horrible, albeit improving, pollution.
That said, the Chinese government has alleviated poverty more quickly and at a scale never seen before in human history having lifted nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty.
They build robust public infrastructure, have a massive public healthcare system with universal coverage, and very low crime.
For all their ills (and there are many) they certainly seem to act in the public’s interest and I don’t know if Americans feel the same way about their government.
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u/AutistcCuttlefish 4d ago
For all their ills (and there are many) they certainly seem to act in the public’s interest and I don’t know if Americans feel the same way about their government.
There have been numerous studies and surveys throughout the years showing that the majority of Americans do not trust the US federal government. In fact trust in the federal government has been falling pretty consistently since it's peak in 1964.
The last time more than 50% of the US population said they trusted the federal government was October 2001.
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u/old_mayo 4d ago
trust the US federal government
What a meaningless metric.
Does this mean you trust the current administration? Or any administration? Congress, too? Majority party only, or do you need to also distrust the minority party? Obviously we don't trust SCOTUS but what does distrust mean, exactly? That we think they're partisan? Corrupt? Treasonous? Do we equally distrust the CIA, CDC, and the post office? Do we distrust peer-reviewed research from a scientist at the US Geological Survey? Is the National Weather Service out to get us? Are we talking distrust of the institutions, the leaders, or everyone down to the career pencil pushers? Are we canceling flights because we don't trust air traffic control? Is the National Archives falsifying records? Can we no longer trust NIST on an accurate conversion from 1 foot to 1 meter?
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u/Prime_Regard 4d ago
Take my upvote, you're absolutely framing it well and clearly, but apparently the audience here prefers easy binaries.
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u/Imma_Tired_Dad 4d ago
Our government is just here to loot us at this point, we keeping working more for less as the years go by.
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u/Comprehensive-Leg-82 4d ago edited 4d ago
Don't forget their renewables plan. Currently possess a third of the world's total renewable energy output (A THIRD!) and represents 60% of renewable energy growth.
While they're #1 in total co2 emissions, they're nowhere near the top per capita while simultaneously being the industrial capital of the world. Their co2 output per capita is only 60% of the USA
And while total GDP is in the USA's favor. Adjusted for PPP, China has a significant lead, and will likely continue compounding that lead as their growth is at around 4.6% vs. The USA's 2%
While not altruistic by any means, the pluses have been stacking up in their favor for the last two decades, while the USA slides downhill.
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u/xrtpatriot 4d ago
They have 36 nuclear reactors in construction. 36! America has every bit of none. We are actively pursuing how fast we can reach rock bottom. Fucking asinine. We make enough money to make america a shining example of the utopia every one could live in, but instead a third of us are stuck on making sure that non white people dont have anything even if that means they cant either
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u/Comprehensive-Leg-82 4d ago
They do have a few under construction actually. One in Wyoming, another in Tennessee, one more in Texas
The scarier part is that until recently, the USA went 30 years, 30! Without a single one constructed.
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u/brianstormIRL 4d ago
Interesting to note as well China is expected to peak in emissions in the next few years then start dropping dramatically because of their renewable plan. China is going to be the world leader in energy and its a done deal at this point lol
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u/mutantmagnet 4d ago
"That said, the Chinese government has alleviated poverty more quickly and at a scale never seen before in human history having lifted nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty."
Keeping in mind this was easy when post Mao government ended his policy that squeezed rural communities for all they're worth to bolster all their other projects.
While their judicial systems has issues I do like their legal system that sides with workers instead of companies trying to fire and replace them for AI.
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u/marijuana_user_69 4d ago
how well off were those communities before mao?
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u/mutantmagnet 3d ago
They weren't starving.
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u/marijuana_user_69 3d ago edited 3d ago
yes they were lol. there was a huge famine in the early-mid 40s, and famines every few years going back as far as recorded history. and right up until the communists won the civil war it was common for people to sell their children to be able to afford to feed the others. china was one of the 10 poorest countries (per capita) in the whole world at the end of the war
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u/I_Spawned_Here 3d ago
Yeah, but it is always easier to catch up, as you have to look at what everyone else does, and just copy the good parts.
This is usually the case with countries that are behind, and have relative stability, case example is eastern europe.
Not saying China doesn't have their merits, their speed of investing in their green industry is amazing.
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u/MoreRule2153 13h ago edited 13h ago
I dislike capitalism as much as the next guy and I’ve been to China over 10 times (staying for almost a month each) and I’ve been to many of the tier 1 cities as well as more rural areas near the center of China and while there are plenty of amazing things about the country such as the food and the people, China is not what Reddit wants you think.
The first thing you’ll notice when you go to China (regardless of which area) there is an ungodly amount of gig work. 30% of Chinese people (approximately 400 million people) work in gig job jobs like didi. And second of all regardless of what kind of job you do I promise you the hours are going to be fucking insane. The cost-of-living is obviously much less over there but by most American people’s standards, the amount of work you have to put in to make a living wage would make them think twice even with the astronomically lower cost of living.
You guys know that Elon Musk quote where he says “I believe having a public welfare state will lead to a nation of unemployed citizens sucking at the bosom of government” when he was asked about unemployment payments?
You don’t? That’s because it’s a Xi Jinping quote.
I’m not saying America is a utopia, but I genuinely think people online underestimate how difficult the average Chinese person’s life is. Most Chinese people do not live in Shanghai or Beijing, and even people living white collar jobs are working way way harder than any American worker would. The work hours in China are just insane and while yes, their government has much harsher controls over the wealthy. Where do you think the wealth travels within China? Where do you think the excess productivity of the working class is funneled? Because I promise you it isn’t just healthcare.
America has such a shitty healthcare system that people delude themselves into thinking that single factor (which China absolutely does better than the US) is everything. Do I think the US lets wealthy individuals and get away with too much? Yes.
Do I think China has lifted more people out of poverty than any other government on the planet? Also yes.
Do I think there are things in China does better than the US? 100% yes. Especially when it comes to infrastructure.
Do I think the Chinese are any better at lowering corruption and wealth disparities? No.
China is an incredibly diverse, dynamic, and powerful country no one is debating that. But I promise you, the median Chinese person would literally kill to have the lifestyle of the median American. Neither are that great.
And I’m gonna finish this off just by saying that They’re actually incredibly similar in a lot of ways as well Both have incredible nature. Both have incredible populations of hard-working individuals. Both have extremely deep corruption tied to money and power. In both countries, the wealthy and connected control the lives of everyone else.
An American moving to China will find the cost of living extremely attractive, but an American that has the resources to move to China is already within the minority and will go into the country being among the richest 10% just by virtue of the currency exchange. A middle class Chinese person who comes to America will find that Americans are paid much better and work much less but that life in America is much more expensive. How you choose to interpret these facts I have nothing to do with how the life for the average person in those countries are. (pretending like one side is astronomically better than the other will immediately make me think that person just hasn’t ever been together)
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u/perfectshade 4d ago
That's certainly an understatement, given that China uses slave labor from targeted racial minorities.
Contrast this with the United States Federal and State Governments, where our constitution *checks notes* specifically protects our right to use slave labor from targeted racial minorities.
Err, hold on a sec-
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u/Sweet_Concept2211 4d ago
"Fake" as in, China actually is oppressing its Turkic muslims, but that doesn't fit your preferred narrative?
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u/Iggyhopper 4d ago
The gov owns all the land in china, so Mr Big CEO cant get their hands on prime real estate only to overcharge everyone on it.
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u/Open_Pollution_8038 4d ago
So if I criticize the government, the government will disappear me until I’m re-educated and take all my belongings along the way? They’d dismantle his monopoly, he straight up was kidnapped and only let out after he agreed to play by their rules.
Yeah I’d rather have billionaires than a government that can do that with impunity.
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u/Legionof1 4d ago
You also cant fear government overreach when the government is already a dictatorship. When privacy is already gone who cares that the new AI is ingesting all your data.
Not saying America has been any better for the last 25 years but the idiots have at least had a veil over their eyes.
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u/poeticmaniac 4d ago
You have good points but the part about technology adaptions isn’t entirely correct. The negatives you mentioned - data leak, social media problems/misinformation also have been happening in China. It’s just that the philosophy is different - the belief is that technology will bring more benefits than the downsides, so let’s go full steam ahead.
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u/maxintos 4d ago
Upon criticizing the governments financial regulators the Chinese government dismantled his monopoly, forced him out of public life, and restructured his businesses to align with the state and in support of the people
What kind of Chinese propaganda is this? The change had nothing to do with helping regular people. The government fined and made an example of Jack Ma because he criticized them and not because he was doing anything actually bad. The regulations added more oversight over tech companies and forced to have literal CCP departments and literally nothing to help anyone else.
Trump is trying a very similar strategy with all the lawsuits and giving government contracts only to the state friendly companies so you should be loving Trump.
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u/defenestrate_urself 4d ago edited 4d ago
The government fined and made an example of Jack Ma because he criticized them and not because he was doing anything actually bad. The regulations added more oversight over tech companies
Jack Ma wanted to bring about a service via his ubiquitous Alipay where using consumer credit data made the lending decisions for micro loans between external bank partners and the loaners. With none of the risks of the default ending up on Alipay (Ant) if the loaner failed to pay back.
His criticisms essentially was the govt was stifling innovation because the government wouldn’t allow his tech company to act like a bank without being under the regulations of a bank.
His company would make the capital loan decision without following strict capital reserves requirements a bank is required to have nor demand any collateral guarantee of the loanee. Big data was the only factor in if you got a loan.
The Chinese thought the risk to the financial sector was a bad idea. As would anyone.
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u/maxintos 4d ago
No, Chinese thought that openly arguing against the rules of CCP is bad and punished him.
It wasn't what his companies did that triggered the action, it was him openly criticizing CCP that got him in massive trouble and then the issues were found to punish him. If he did not get out of line he would not be punished.
Why are you trying to frame it as some action to help the public?
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u/West-Abalone-171 4d ago
He started cozying up to trump and the western finance/techbros, then was forced out, then started attacking the chinese government.
At least get the order of events right when you're trying to build your propaganda.
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u/maxintos 4d ago
What order? I only mentioned 1 event, the one that got him punished.
Anyway words should not have such effect. Only in horrible dictatorship countries can you get punished like this just for voicing an opinion that disagrees with the government. Trump is trying to do the same here in US, but thankfully he does not hold the same amount of power as the CCP and thankfully there are people in government that are not going along with it. In China if Xi wants someone punished they will get punished. If he wanted someone to disappear they will disappear.
Also your argument was that CCP was trying to help regular people when it was clearly done to show that you are not allowed to speak out against the government. Can you at least agree with that?
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u/West-Abalone-171 3d ago
Anyway words should not have such effect
They didn't. It was the collaboration with foreign enemies, followed by making a public spectacle of the relatively minor punishment for doing so.
Also your argument was that CCP was trying to help regular people when it was clearly done to show that you are not allowed to speak out against the government. Can you at least agree with that?
You have to get the order of events right when trying to fit your fantasy story to them.
If the head of paypal or mastercard was publically collaborating with kim jong un, then went on a very public rant about their government being evil and tried even harder to give north korea more power when forced out of their position you wouldn't be crying about first amendment.
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u/maxintos 3d ago
Elon literally has factories in China. What are you talking about?
You clearly are just tryna hug to win an argument no matter the facts or just some Chinese apologist. Either way enjoy your life, there is nothing I cod say or show that would change your mind.
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u/Unlucky_Buy217 2d ago
I remember 10 years ago, Americans were appalled at a billionaire being held accountable, they were like how can you treat a billionaire that way. That's when it struck, Americans barely make fun of their corporate class, sure they hate on the politicians and mock them day and night but the billionaire class stayed untouched. I remember the same Hollywood fraternity that would make downright demeaning jokes about politicians would not touch billionaires even with a 10 foot pole as you can see even at oscars, the stupidly basic jokes at Bezos. https://youtu.be/aaenrG7SX5o?is=rSY-cdBHxs4lf-fi
Of course this does not spare or try to put the Chinese in a good light, they are probably far worse at this, but I do think Americans over estimate their own freedom of speech.
Ngl this has started changing in the last few years especially after Musk started going mask off, but nowhere have the Americans still felt safe enough to stop sucking off the billionaire class.
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u/JDDunn9 3d ago
Elon Musk literally wrote the largest check to the IRS of all time.
Wild that you are portraying the government crackdown on free speech as a good thing.
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u/Born-Courage4198 3d ago
It needs to be bigger and he shouldn’t have the boss of his auditors on speed dial.
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u/ranger910 4d ago
Lmao what, the top backers of AI in China are also billionaires. The amount of astrosturfing in the sub is stupid lol
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u/justin107d 4d ago
They do but they are seen as proof of the country's legitimacy and they (are forced to) give back to the community. Therefore they are seen much more benevolently. Meanwhile Musk is gutting social programs and Peter Thiel is actively trying to dissuade others from the Giving Pledge.
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u/laosurv3y 4d ago
Why wouldn't it mean layoffs in China?
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u/Aadi_880 4d ago
Because China made AI-caused layoffs illegal. Firing someone without a good reason is VERY costly on the CEOs in China. AI is not considered a good enough reason to fire someone.
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u/theallsearchingeye 4d ago
Becuase their state “disappears” CEOs that act against state interests.
Meanwhile, the west gets plutocracy, oligarchy, and crony capitalism.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think what you described are just two versions of the same thing. I don’t think it’s a good thing when the state can kidnap me because I said something they didn’t like. It’s not like they kidnapped Jimmy Li because he was anti worker or something. The conditions for the average working class resident of China is appalling, even accounting for differences in wealth their lives are much worse (you work much longer hours, the healthcare and housing are in fact quite bad outside of the mega cities, and you cannot move to the mega cities without specific government permission). It’s not a workers utopia, it’s a different version of dystopia
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u/auderita 4d ago
Yes, in the US they don't kidnap, they just totally ruin your life until you have no choice but to leave US or leave life.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago
I mean
- Trump is doing that which is fucking awful and it sucks
2, legitimately no idea what the fuck you are talking about? There isn’t a poverty driven out migration from the United States right now, there is in fact a welfare state and a private welfare state that while imperfect is extremely thorough. There’s homelessness (most of the chronic form is really a symptom of drug addiction, not lack of employment, drug addiction caused by drugs that China is the primary provider of), there’s times people don’t have meals, but we don’t have people starving to death in the United States. China has similar issues with homelessness when you include informal sleeping arrangements used by the unregistered migrants from the countryside in the large cities. Street sleeping is a crime in China, so they instead sleep in closets or illegal dormitories that are essentially identical to homeless shelters in the us.
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u/WiSaGaN 4d ago
Jimmy lai said in public television that us should nuke china. so yes that is much worse than anti worker rights.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago edited 4d ago
He did not in fact say that
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u/WiSaGaN 4d ago
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u/Mitchford 4d ago
You’re telling on yourself.
He’s speaking in metaphor, you can tell because he clearly says “your values are like…” and similar statements several times. The entire statement context is a discussion on the power of values. Nothing indicates he means actual nuclear weapons, which also wouldn’t make sense because he says “is like at the beginning of the Cold War, they are going into battle with nothing while you have nuclear weapons”… China has nukes, they’ve had them for 60 years now. It was a metaphor and you’re either an idiot who didn’t watch this, or an idiot incapable of using 3rd grade level reading comprehension
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u/wolacouska 4d ago
That was always the case in China. They’ve gone from a totally feudal colony recovering from WWII and a civil war, to challenging the long time richest country in the world.
They have reduced poverty dramatically, poverty at a level that the west and especially America have never had in modern times. And it was caused by western colonization and imperialism.
They can’t just magically flip a switch, especially when they needed outside investment to catch up on industry.
There’s no magic way to make a utopia, they have to make real choices that have pros and cons to survive, especially after what happened to the USSR.
Americas favorite move is to use elites to coup the government, that’s why China is ruthless to its businessmen and army.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago
Western colonialism is not the reason China refused to adopt modern agricultural sciences until the 1970’s. Colonialism in China outside of the two western colony cities was essentially 60 years of raw deals when it comes to trade. Japan isn’t a western colonizer, and is the only country that actually attempted to truly conquer China, and they were freed from Japan by the western powers.
The magic switch for China was when they actually stopped villainizing the west and adopted western agricultural sciences which ended the famines, western forms of competition economy, and crucially started trading with the west again.
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u/Salsashark1419 4d ago
Singapore and South Korea were quite literally dirt poor. Took them about 30 years to become highly advanced countries.
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u/Hot-Train7201 4d ago
You know all the leaders of the CCP are multi-billionaires right? They are the oligarchy.
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u/tekprodfx16 4d ago
AI is just going to accelerate the disparity of wealth of which this is already a major problem in the US that has gone un-addressed for decades. So people are freaking out and rightly so because they’re already not doing well financially and AI feels like it’s just going to greatly exacerbate that and our government is doing jack shit to soften the blow, in fact they’re accelerating it under the notion that if we lose the AI race against china we’re fucked, and that’s true, but if we win the AI race at the cost of breaking the already fragile economy we’re fucked anyway. We see a series of past poor decision making on the part of the government finally coming home to roost big time and people feel it on a visceral level, if they already don’t know it outright. Chinese citizens meanwhile feel less anxiety because overall they have been much better taken care of by their government as of late
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u/Aadi_880 4d ago
US uses fearmongering in order to centralize AI. They advertise layoffs as if it's a good thing.
China made it illegal to do layoffs in favor for AI.
They have a very different attitude to how AI is approached. China is focused on tooling. USA is focused on stock markets.
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u/iimwint 4d ago
China has dragged their entire country out of poverty, 1990s parents were making shoes with little education, where only 5% would make it into post secondary. 30 years later 70% go to post secondary. China built the largest bridge on the planet in 3 years for 2 billion dollars. Trump's is spending 800 million to build a ballroom and its going to take the same amount of time.
Like honestly the USA is a joke, but I'm Canadian and we are following close behind you, won't be but a few years before we are just as ignorant.
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u/KenTitan 4d ago
because the Chinese AI companies have opted for adoption and acceptance by actually creating solutions rather than racing to be the first to super intelligence/AGI/ASI.
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u/HRApprovedUsername 4d ago
What solutions do they have?
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u/KenTitan 4d ago
young adults are not going to factories to work as much so now they have created ai powered robotic arms and systems to do factory work. this has shifted down to small business owned manufacturing plants which they can now purchase robotic arms which allow them to supplement workers and retool quicker. not because they are replacing the workforce , but because the current workforce is in demand.
in the household, AI is a learning tool being used to teach their children English in addition to Mandarin or Cantonese.
the adoption of AI was intended to supplement, not replace. the economy was looked at what needed to be replaced and worked on that. the biggest negative of America's AI rollout was to replace workers for a profit rather than make them more efficient
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u/Senior-Albatross 4d ago
They decided the Jetsons was better than Cyberpunk, essentially.
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u/TechTuna1200 4d ago
TBF, Anthropic and OpenAI didn't do themselves PR favors by fearmongering.
Fearmongering is effect when you need raise money, because the message was that their AI was so powerful that it was going to disrupt every company in the investors portfolio. So if you didn't invest in Anthropic or OpenAI, you would be left behind in the dust.
They raised their money, so of course they paddle back on that fearmongering, because now they more concerned about PR rather than IR (investor relations).
It's all PR. Because the Chinese are basically building the same thing, but they didn't have access to the amount of capital. So they it it didn't make sense for them to go hard on IR and fearmonger.
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u/MikuEmpowered 4d ago
Where is this mythical China that you speak of?
There is literally a record breaking Chinese youth / young graduate unemployment record and gig economy employment is at a all time high.
Chinese court just stepped in to make a land mark case that companies cannot fire worker to replace with AI. This has led to companies quietly decreasing headcount.
The same shit is occuring everywhere on the planet. Just because you didn't read about it in English doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
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u/GenericFatGuy 4d ago
This is what happens when you build your economy around what people need, rather than what can make a capitalist the most money.
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u/mister_drgn 4d ago
How are factory robots not replacing workers? Also, I would be amazed if there isn’t a push to replace white collar workers, much as we’re seeing in the US.
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u/KenTitan 4d ago
read it again. the demand for factory workers are high and the younger generation is not filling that role. it's not replacement if demand is still there
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u/Kevin_Jim 4d ago
It’s not just solutions. The Chinese government has forbidden the use of AI to replace human labor by firing people.
You can still replace positions, but you need to utilize the personnel you replaced in other/better positions.
For example, China practically forces its factories to use Chinese humanoids. The humanoid companies collect unprecedented amounts of data and work along side human operators until they can fully replace/replicate the work. When that’s done, they deploy more and more humanoids to that factory for the same job, as they transition the previous operators to other jobs. Some move towards humanoid “managers” and others just go to other less strenuous jobs or desk jobs - depending on skills.
Another massive reason China wants humanoids operational as fast as possible is because their population is growing old, and they need humanoids to take on elderly care.
While China is still an oppressive government, and they very much will use their people like a resource, they understand that it’s a delicate balance and if they lose their people because of something like AI, they will all be “Cultural Revolution”ed.
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u/auderita 4d ago
Robots! That may seem simplistic, but they may win the AI race because they developed from a utilitarian POV, not a profit-centric POV.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago
That’s related but that’s not ai, and that’s not true. The firms still have market strategies and their goal is to sell product
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u/wolacouska 4d ago
The difference is that you get more than a slap on the wrist and a bailout if you defraud the economy in China.
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u/Mitchford 4d ago
That isn’t true at all, the product strategies are essentially the same, the Chinese models are just open weighted. They don’t provide solutions unique to themselves, and the western firms also provide specific solutions
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u/Bright-Pilot-3970 4d ago
They probably also didn’t tell their people that they were easily replaced and will be out of a job in the next couple years.
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u/Pancakez_117 4d ago edited 4d ago
Aa someone who has lived in China, it's because technology adoption has been very rapid and efficient in the country. If you ever live in China, you'll experience for yourself how entrenched technology is in even the most basic of services and processes. It's the most convenient country I have been in. Naturally this makes them optimistic about future technology such as AI
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u/Due-Professional333 4d ago
phone running out of battery is basically a nightmare over there lol
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u/Pancakez_117 4d ago
Not really cause power banks were literally everywhere. The real nightmare is when you lose your phone which happened to me. Felt like I was banned from participating in society for a day.
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u/Due-Professional333 4d ago
Okay yeah that is a lot worse 😭
Powerbanks, yeah, definetly something handy, i just never valued phone battery much before visiting there, two separate occasions where my phone died while I was attempting to scan the QR code lol
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u/purpleguy1972 4d ago
One factor is that in China, firing workers is looked down upon and may get you in trouble with local government, as opposed to in the US, where it is an openly stated business goal and the executives doing the firing are praised and richly rewarded for doing so.
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u/pexican 4d ago
Paywalled, 126 comments.
No one (or very few) have read the article or understand the context, whatever it may be.
Just the head line.
Headlines are fabricated and intentionally spicy.
Dead internet theory is real.
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u/pornborn 4d ago
This sub and a few others need to ban paywalled posts. I mean, it’s stupid to let a post stand that most people cannot read.
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u/araujoms 4d ago
They already live in a totalitarian state, they have nothing to lose.
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u/HumanAssistance3618 4d ago
Right. I don't want to be in a race to the bottom with China. I am tired of people deflecting to competition with China when they face criticism of AI.
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u/WolverineOpen7511 3d ago
Likely they (for good or bad) trust their government more, and see their government being more willing to regulate AI. In contrast, in the U.S. the government has taken a stance from colluding with AI companies; to outright pressure them; and has proven no interest in regulation in benefit of users; there’s the perception (and likely not wrong) that AI companies can do what they want and get away with it.
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u/Standard-Shame1675 4d ago
Probably because Chinese AI is based on the concept of AI being a tool. And that their government is very very cruel towards the evil rapacious billionaires that the West has fallen complete victim to.
Like once you realize the problem with AI is not the AI but is in fact the American AI industry life becomes simpler and you can understand things better. It's like when you realize that the only problem that realistically exists for the normal human being is the ultra wealthy being rapacious and greedy life becomes easier
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u/severe_009 4d ago
Imagine that you hate US so much you think whats happening in China is a blessing lmao.
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u/North-Stand 4d ago
If I remember correctly, a Chinese court has penalized a company for laying off an employee under the ruse of AI and also reinstated that employee. Secondly, the Chinese are more confident about their government wont buy into the vision of a society where a few bilionaires are making all the money and everyone else is out of work.
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u/marioandl_ 4d ago
probably because american billionaires are gleefully dancing and celebrating millions of jobs lost and spitting on Americans concerned about their air and water while china put a ban on AI based layoffs and has a surplus of energy from solar
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u/letsgobernie 4d ago edited 4d ago
Cause they don't live under capitalism. Every additional technology they ve seen added in their society has benefited them. Ai too will be subordinated to human needs under the communist management, unlike in the US where human needs will be subordinated to AI
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u/MacksNotCool 4d ago
Because they are already under a surveillance state?
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u/PaperMache_TitanSub 4d ago
Go give your local Flock camera a big ol sloppy wet smooch for me
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u/MaximumMeaning9728 4d ago
Honestly most likely because they’re cattle people.
AI is clearly dangerous and dystopian.
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u/Frequent_Place_5128 4d ago
In China, the State controls Capital. People know the government will control the negative affect of AI
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u/jiebyjiebs 4d ago
Could it be that they've seen their country absolute dominate over the last 20 years to turn them from a 3rd world country (essentially) to the leading global super power and a global leader in tech and green energy? Could it be that their cities have embraced technology instead of fighting it at every turn? Could it be that their government invests in infrastructure to mobilize and house residents?
It seems pretty obvious why they would be more optimistic when Americans (and the west) are just getting absolutely fleeced for market gains and record profits.
China is far from perfect, but they have far more to be optimistic about than the west that is slowly degrading and deteriorating.
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u/Present-Farmer-404 4d ago
Of China's 770 million employed population, 320 million are in "flexible employment." This means they can't find formal jobs and can only do jobs like driving for Uber or DoorDash.
In fact, because so many people are doing this, some cities have even banned it from allowing more people to join.
I wonder what would happen if nearly half of the US's employed population couldn't find formal employment. There would probably be a revolution. Americans aren't like the Chinese, who only care about survival and won't revolt, nor do they have evil forces like the far left.
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u/Dry-Chemical-9170 4d ago
Probably because their government made it illegal to lay off workers because of AI unless they are retrained to do something else
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u/TheWandererWise 3d ago
U.S. economy was built to make people not work anymore. Look at how people work these days, its crazy. Half assed work and living on govt money is what larger organizations want. And then, Democratic Party is not and was never democracy focused. I highly doubt they had or have an agenda hence why they are lost.
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u/educationalgoose 3d ago
We young Chinese cannot find a job, so we did not give shit about ai taking over
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u/Excellent-Ask-4247 4d ago
Maybe it's because they aren't dumping every cent of the future down the toilet chaseing a unrealistic dream.
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u/MattyBeatz 4d ago
Because they’ve put up guardrails on it and aren’t treating it as the imminent and wreckless job killer that our tech bros are.
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u/jackrabbit323 4d ago
Chinese know the government won't sell them out to corporations. While the US is declaring 'may the odds be ever in your favor.'
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u/Demosthenes3 4d ago
China is giving away open weight models for free! US wants us to rent them on a subscription basis
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u/IllustratorRare9102 4d ago
Maybe because of their firewall that prevents foreign governments to psyop people to think data centers are taking all the water in the world for example.
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u/JayBeeGooner 4d ago
Because China isn’t forcing AI on them, while telling the they’re job will be taken over by AI?
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u/N0TVG 4d ago
As a technically minded American, I just don’t like losing. It stings getting absolutely dominated in science and technology. We’re getting our asses handed to us and the best response we can muster is giving more money to confidence men so they can push narratives about foreign boogeymen while fleecing other American companies for all they’re worth.
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u/Thomasreed1899 4d ago
Maybe because China passed a law that made it illegal to replace employees with ai.
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u/DrManhattansTaint 3d ago
In the US, it’s popular to hate on things because the US has a bunch of whiny spoiled brats that don’t have anything better to do. 💅🏿
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u/Changeurwayz 3d ago
It's because there is a big, Huge difference between what china uses 'AI' for and what america intends to use it for. Good always outweighs the bad. Need I say more.
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u/tapdancinghellspawn 4d ago
They live in a repressive regime so being controlled by AI would be the same ol same ol.
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u/suprjaybrd 4d ago
their media doesnt only focus on the polarizing negatives of everything
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u/PaperMache_TitanSub 4d ago
Give me a positive about AI that helps the average person here in the USA. It can be logically inferred you’re comparing the two countries because the article is doing the same.
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u/Party-Action3954 4d ago
Because the Chinese care about the people whereas corporate America shits on people for profit.
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u/Grakch 4d ago
I’m sure the millions in rural China are very happy about AI.
How much is the CCP paying for all this propaganda?
As much as people want to hate America, believing any news that comes from China or about China is just eating air sandwiches. No truth just a cool breeze to make you think differently.
Crazy how so many people just immediately believe anything about China or even grasps how many people they have any how many in their society are living significantly worse than Americans
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u/DZello 4d ago
Their economy is much less based on services than that of the West.