"China is worried A.I. companions could be a drag on productivity. On Interesting Times, Kyle Chan, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, tells the Opinion columnist Ross Douthat that the government thinks youth should be engineering the future and building out the start-ups and the future Chinese versions of SpaceX."
"They are very worried about that. And, in fact, they are already rolling out policies and regulations around A.I. boyfriends and A.I. girlfriends. It's so funny they have a very negative view of wasting time, basically of what they see, the folks in Beijing, what they see as nonproductive activity."
"So I think right now we're seeing something similar happen again, with worries that A.I. companions could end up being a big time sink for Chinese youth, when they should be engineering the future and building out the start-ups and the future Chinese versions of SpaceX, for example."
"Definitely. That's a big part of the story. So, China has a shrinking work force. I think their labor force size peaked actually over a decade ago. And they're heavily dependent on manufacturing. They don't want to let that go. They see that as the engine for the whole economy."
China worries that AI companions could become a major time sink for young people, reducing productivity and distracting from national priorities. Leaders already pursue policies and regulations targeting AI boyfriends and AI girlfriends. The concern echoes earlier crackdowns that treated activities like video games as incompatible with a high-growth, technology-driven future. China also faces falling birthrates, lower marriage rates, and a shrinking workforce that peaked more than a decade ago. With heavy dependence on manufacturing as the economic engine, leaders seek ways to maintain competitiveness in an aging, low-birthrate society, including the idea that robots may help compensate for demographic decline.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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