How AI is replacing 'need for men' to Chinese women, worsening population decline

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4 days ago

Many people blame AI for making China's population shrink because it reduces the need to get married or have kids by taking over roles like offering companionship read more
New technologies, like advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), are making Chinese women more confident about choosing to stay single.
They believe AI will soon be able to provide things like emotional support and care for older people, which in Chinese culture are usually handled by getting married and having kids.
Tracy Li, a 32-year-old who works as a human resources manager at a company in Beijing, doesn't think marriage or having children is necessary for her life, as reported by South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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Chinese women increasingly ditching marriages
Instead of following the traditional path of starting a family like her parents or grandparents did, she enjoys living by herself. She's not the only one who feels this way.
'The cost of giving birth is apparently too high for women, which is leading to a low birth rate in contemporary society,' Li said.
A survey in October 2021 that asked about 3,000 people in cities found that nearly 44 per cent of unmarried women between 18 and 26 either don't want to get married or aren't sure if they ever will.
Many people blame AI for making China's population shrink because it reduces the need to get married or have kids by taking over roles like offering companionship and helping with elderly care.
'AI can already provide emotional companionship. In another 20 to 30 years, by the time my generation is old, I believe that household robots for taking care of the elderly will be widely available and affordable,' she said. 'I am now hoping that the development of caregiving robots will accelerate.'
'Not a bad thing'
However, one expert thinks this change might not be a bad thing at all.
Li Jianxin, a professor at Peking University who has studied population issues for over 30 years, shared his thoughts in an interview with the SCMP last month.
He believes AI could completely change how we think about life, death, and families, which might make worries about a shrinking population less important.
'The conventional focus of demography is on changes in factors such as birth and death rates. However, today's society is undergoing a shift from an industrial to an intelligent society, which may completely reshape or even overturn the biological concepts of birth and death,' he said.
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This hopeful view connects with young Chinese women like Tracy Li.
According to Li, the shrinking and ageing populations that worry people today might not be a big problem in the future.
'Driven by technological breakthroughs, new solutions may emerge,' he said.
One way AI is already helping is with in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Li's research says that if AI can pick healthier embryos and make IVF work better, it could lead to more babies being born.
But his study also mentions, based on other research, that these improvements might not make a big difference in increasing the overall number of births.