China's State Council orders 18 measures to soften AI job losses and build an 'employment-friendly' AI rollout

China's State Council has told government departments to curb the job losses caused by AI, in a policy document published through Xinhua on 23 October 2026. The General Office of the State Council issued "Opinions on adapting to the development of AI technology to help build an employment-friendly development model", setting out 18 main tasks in six areas. The stated aim is to strengthen AI's positive effects on creating jobs and to "effectively mitigate the job-displacement effects of AI applications". The tasks include building an employment-friendly path for AI upgrades in traditional sectors, setting up a mechanism to assess the job risks of AI deployments, a special AI training programme, more help for workers moving into new jobs, labour protections suited to human-machine collaboration, social security for flexible and platform workers, and an income distribution system adapted to AI. A final group sets up monitoring and early warning of AI's effects on employment, with plans to respond when risks appear. The document names no employer and sets no numeric target, but it treats AI's displacement of workers as a fact the state has to manage. This summary uses Xinhua's official release; the full text was not read.