数字员工

A darkly comic term that refers both to AI systems companies deploy to replace human workers, and to the human employees who ruefully joke that they themselves have become indistinguishable from machines — showing up, executing tasks, and clocking out without a soul in sight. As layoffs swept through Chinese tech and white-collar sectors and AI tools multiplied, workers began calling themselves 'digital employees' before management could make it official. Equal parts gallows humor and social critique.

Against a backdrop of sluggish post-pandemic recovery, youth unemployment hitting record highs, and aggressive AI adoption by major Chinese corporations, the meme captures a collective anxiety: that human labor is increasingly disposable. Platforms like Alibaba and ByteDance publicized AI efficiency drives, making the joke feel less like satire and more like a job description.

指企业用AI或自动化系统替代人类员工，也指被迫与AI"竞争"岗位的打工人自嘲。