A tech worker in China is laid off and replaced by AI. Is it legal?

A court in Hangzhou, eastern China, has ruled in favor of a senior tech worker whose company replaced him with artificial intelligence (AI). The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court upheld a lower court's decision that the tech worker's dismissal was unlawful. The worker, identified by his surname Zhou, was employed as a quality assurance supervisor at a tech firm in Hangzhou. Zhou primarily worked with AI large language models and verified the accuracy of answers they generated for users. The company reassigned him to a lower-level position with a 40% pay cut, which he refused, leading to the termination of his contract. The court found that the company's termination grounds did not meet the legal condition that made it 'impossible to continue the employment contract.' A lawyer noted that AI adoption doesn't automatically justify a company terminating a labor contract to cut costs.