AI Has Yet to Displace Workers on a Large Scale, Peking University Professor Says

AI has yet to cause large-scale job displacement, though it is already affecting some occupations, including programming and live-action short-drama production, Peking University economics professor Zhang Dandan said Wednesday.

“AI and human labor do not have a simple substitution relationship,” Zhang said at the Caixin Summit.

At the company level, AI’s impact has yet to fully emerge, she said. For workers, it is more often reshaping workflows by taking over specific tasks than eliminating entire jobs.