---
title: "88 Percent of Chinese Workers Would Prefer a Robot Boss"
description: "A small survey shows that most Chinese workers would prefer to be managed by an impartial AI algorithm or \"robot boss\" than a human."
date: "2019-10-16"
modified: "2019-10-16"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-workers-prefer-robot-boss"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "automation"
  - "china"
  - "the digest"
  - "work"
---

# 88 Percent of Chinese Workers Would Prefer a Robot Boss

![A small survey shows that most Chinese workers would prefer to be managed by an impartial AI algorithm than a human, in a positive twist on job automation.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/90-percent-chinese-workers-prefer-robot-boss.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Human Touch

In China, the vast majority of workers would rather be managed by a robot or AI algorithm than a human.

That's fitting, because the *South China Morning Post* newspaper [reports that](<https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3033143/almost-90-cent-chinese-workers-trust-robot-more-their-human-managers>) the country plans to increase the number of robots in its workforce tenfold over the next five years. The pro-AI sentiments, shared by 88 percent of the Chinese workers surveyed, is a stark contrast to warnings about how [automation will kill jobs](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/automation-robot-steal-job-than-person>) — instead, these respondents generally look forward to a bright future of human-robot cooperation.

## Select Few

The new survey comes from the software company Oracle and research firm Future Workplace, *SCMP* reports. In it, nearly nine out of ten Chinese workers said that they'd prefer to have AI schedule their work and handle other managerial tasks. India had the most pro-robot responses at 89 percent, while only 54 percent of British people and 57 percent of Americans said they'd prefer a robot.

But the entire survey was administered online, and only included 8,370 people across ten countries — and fewer than 1,000 in China — so it's not clear whether it's representative of the [800 million people](<https://www.statista.com/statistics/282134/china-labor-force/>) in China's workforce.

## Looking Up

About two-thirds of survey participants — not just those from China — said that they looked forward to having robot coworkers, according to *SCMP*.

One particularly-bizarre highlight: about a quarter of participants said they already had a "loving and gratifying" relationship with AI at their workplace, leaving us wondering how, exactly, they interact with their managers.

**READ MORE:** [Almost 90 per cent of Chinese workers trust a robot more than their human managers, survey finds](<https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3033143/almost-90-cent-chinese-workers-trust-robot-more-their-human-managers>) \[*South China Morning Post*\]

**More on automation:** *[Robots Have Replaced Humans in 25% of China’s Ammunition Factories](<https://futurism.com/robots-replaced-humans-25-chinas-ammunition-factories>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)