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China’s AI optimism isn’t what it seems - by Zilan Qian

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The enthusiasm seems real. But for a population that lived through the mass layoffs of the 1990s, optimism and fear can look identical from the outside.

China’s AI optimism isn’t what it seems The enthusiasm seems real. But for a population that lived through the mass layoffs of the 1990s, optimism and fear can look identical from the outside. Zilan Qian May 22, 2026 95 4 14 Share Zilan Qian is a research associate at the Oxford China Policy Lab and holds a Master’s degree in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford. This article was originally published in Asterisk Magazine. Americans — left, right, and everywhere in between — seem to be afraid of AI. They fear data centers speeding up climate change, disinformation and de

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