AI replaces research analysts at Beijing corporate advisory firms, sparking mass layoffs

China's corporate advisory sector is shedding research analysts after firms discovered that artificial intelligence can produce the same market studies and competitor reports in a fraction of the time, forcing displaced workers to compete for shrinking opportunities as clients abandon human expertise for cheaper automated alternatives.

Explicit AI dismissals spread through Beijing firm

Clare Zhang lost her research analyst position at a Beijing corporate advisory company in late 2023 when management told her that AI had reduced both the number of analysts needed and the firm's ability to afford them. Zhang had spent four years preparing market and competitor studies, some running to 500 pages, by combing through company filings and public records for clients planning project listings.

Two of Zhang's colleagues were dismissed shortly after her own termination, with the company's human resources department explicitly citing artificial intelligence as the reason it could no longer justify employing so many analysts.

Clients abandon human research despite accuracy warnings

The pressure has moved beyond individual layoffs to threaten entire business models. Zhang recently discovered that her former manager was struggling with a declining client base, as companies increasingly brought research in-house using AI tools.

The shift persisted even after Zhang's team warned clients that AI could invent sources and produce convincing but unreliable findings. "They would rather trust AI because our reports were considered too expensive," Zhang said.

Court blocks cost-based AI replacement

In May, a Chinese court ruled that terminating an employee solely because an artificial intelligence replacement would be cheaper was illegal. The case involved a 35-year-old worker at a Hangzhou fintech firm who oversaw AI-generated responses and was fired after refusing a demotion and pay cut.

The ruling establishes a legal boundary around AI-driven workforce reductions, though it does not address cases where employers cite reduced workload or changing business needs rather than explicit cost savings as justification for dismissals.

Source: South China Morning Post