The emergence of DeepSeek has sparked fears of AI replacing human labor in the workplace. Following the recent reports of a company laying off 95% of its customer service staff, the first batch of 70 “AI civil servants” based on DeepSeek have started providing services in Futian, Shenzhen. Even gas stations have introduced robot refueling services, prompting netizens to exclaim, “Even refueling is done by robots now, making money is getting harder. People are reluctant to have kids.”
According to the official Chinese state media report on February 18, these “AI civil servants” not only possess general DeepSeek capabilities but are also familiar with tasks such as document processing, public services, emergency management, and investment attraction. Their document correction accuracy exceeds 95%, audit time has been reduced by 90%, and error rates are below 5%.
Moreover, recently in Nantou ancient city in Shenzhen, a humanoid robot was seen patrolling the streets with police officers, raising concerns among many netizens that the introduction of robots may snatch away job opportunities from humans.
Recently, a woman posted a video claiming to have seen a row of robots refueling at a gas station, expressing her disbelief, “Even refueling is done by robots now, making money is getting harder.”
Netizens have expressed their worries, stating, “In the future, artificial intelligence will replace humans, leading to more and more unemployment.” “Technology changes lives and also causes many people to lose their jobs.” “They are snatching away jobs from ordinary people, leading to wealth monopolization. What is the meaning of this artificial intelligence?” “Technology should consider the livelihood of the people more.” “Seeing this, people are discouraged from having children.” “If we have a second or third child, what will they do in the future?” “It’s too frightening to even think about.”
In response to this, Taiwan’s Central News Agency recently quoted experts as saying that China’s widespread use of AI may lead to many traditional jobs facing unemployment, further worsening the already severe job market situation.
However, an article by Netease titled “The most humble profession in China, overtaken by intellectually disabled AI,” also points out that the majority of online customer service platforms that people usually encounter are now predominantly manned by AI. However, most of these AI customer services resemble “intellectually disabled” individuals, endlessly repeating “Please wait” or “I’m sorry,” without understanding what users are saying. Users criticize these intelligent customer services for being not so intelligent and too dull.