Summary of Key Points
This article discusses a poignant reality: although the Chinese economy is still growing and technologies such as AI and new energy are making breakthroughs, many ordinary people do not feel the benefits of this prosperity and instead experience anxiety. The root of the problem lies not in simply distributing money or stimulating consumption, but rather in the disruption of the transfer of benefits during the transition between old and new growth models, as well as the fact that the distribution systems from the industrial era are no longer suitable for the AI era. To give ordinary people hope, it is necessary to establish a new distribution mechanism that allows them to share in the wealth created by new technologies like AI.
Why Does the Lack of Hope Feel So Acute? – The Disconnection Between Growth and Sense of Gain
The article has gained attention not because of its novel arguments, but because it reveals a truth that few dare to discuss systematically: although the economy is growing and technology is advancing, the lives of ordinary people have not improved. For example, in the past, more factories meant more job opportunities, and rising housing prices increased property values, allowing people to directly benefit from economic growth. Nowadays, despite the soaring valuations of AI companies and the booming chip industry, ordinary people neither work for these companies nor own their stocks, making them feel excluded from these positive developments—just like watching others enjoy a feast while they can only smell the aroma.
How Did the Good Days of the Past Come About? – The Three Drivers That Benefited Ordinary People
Over the past few decades, economic growth was driven by a simple combination: industrialization, urbanization, and real estate.
- Factory expansion led to increased demand for workers, which in turn raised wages;
- Rising wages encouraged consumption, boosting businesses such as shops and restaurants;
- Rising housing prices increased the wealth of homebuyers, enabling them to spend more on things like cars and travel.
At that time, both workers and white-collar professionals could clearly see the benefits of economic growth. For instance, a monthly salary might increase from 2000 to 5000 yuan, or a house’s value could double in five years, motivating people to buy homes and start businesses, believing that tomorrow would be better than today.
Why Can Ordinary People Not Benefit from Today’s Advanced Technologies? – The Benefits of the New Growth Model Are Out of Reach
Today, the economy is shifting towards technology-driven growth (AI, chips, new energy), but the distribution of wealth in these fields is highly concentrated:
- Companies like NVIDIA and OpenAI have valuations in trillions of dollars, with most of the money going to a few tech companies and investors;
- For ordinary people to participate, they either need to understand chip technology (which is challenging), buy stocks in the US market (which is difficult for most), or work for large AI firms (where competition is fierce)—most are excluded from these opportunities.
What’s more troubling is that this is not a problem unique to China. Tech companies in the US (such as Apple and Microsoft) are also experiencing rapid growth, yet American middle-class families are anxious, and young people cannot afford to buy homes; the same issues exist in Europe and Japan. This indicates that it is a global phenomenon of the AI era: the more advanced technology becomes, the harder it is for ordinary people to share in its benefits.
Where Does the Problem Lie? – The Industrial Era’s Distribution System No Longer Works for the AI Era
The distribution logic of the industrial era was a cycle of “companies expand → hire workers → wages rise → consumption → companies expand further.” For example, if a factory produces 100 more phones, it needs to hire five more workers; these workers spend their wages, and the factory can sell even more phones, creating a virtuous cycle.
However, in the AI era, things have changed: machines can replace both physical and mental labor (e.g., assembly line robots and AI for coding and customer service). Although efficiency has increased, fewer people are needed. For instance, instead of 10 customer service positions, only two may be required with AI. As a result, company profits rise, but the wealth created by machines does not trickle down to ordinary workers, leading to decreased purchasing power. It’s like a larger cake, but fewer people are getting their share.
How to Solve This Problem? – Creating a New Distribution Mechanism for the AI Era
The solution is not to return to the real estate era or simply distribute money; instead, we need to establish a new distribution system for the AI era:
1. Enable ordinary people to participate in the AI industry: Provide vocational training to teach them skills related to AI (such as AI maintenance and data annotation), allowing more people to work in AI companies.
2. Promote fairer wealth distribution: Increase the proportion of residents’ income in GDP and improve social security (healthcare, pension benefits) to encourage spending.
3. Explore mechanisms for sharing benefits: Consider how ordinary people’s data (e.g., information generated from using apps) can be used to train AI systems, and whether they should receive some form of compensation; or allow them to invest in the AI industry through funds to share in its profits.
4. Build confidence: Assure ordinary people that even if AI replaces some jobs, they can still find their place in the new system—e.g., AI requires human maintenance, supervision, and tasks that cannot be automated (such as creative work and emotional services).
Only when ordinary people can truly benefit from the AI era will there be hope again, and the economy can smoothly transition from a real estate-driven cycle to an intelligent economy.
In Conclusion
The AI era is not about machines taking jobs away; it’s about finding ways to distribute the wealth created by machines more broadly. This is the key to giving ordinary people hope.