China’s AI boom fuels solopreneurs as 1-person businesses flourish in tough job market
China’s artificial intelligence boom is giving rise to a new cohort of “solopreneurs”, who are turning their business dreams into reality with the help of technology, offering a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak job market.
While there is no government data tracking this group, the proliferation of affordable AI models suggests that the number of AI-powered solopreneurs in China is on the rise. Recent data from the US Census Bureau showed that the US had about 30 million solopreneurs, who contributed 6.8 per cent of total economic activity.
In China, local governments are actively working to attract “one-person companies”, or OPCs, as a means to harness AI potential.
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Suzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, launched an “OPC service alliance” in November to support solopreneurs. Also last month, Shanghai designated a building in Jingan district for one-person businesses, providing them with office space and computing resources.
With youth unemployment at record levels in China, opportunities offered by traditional employers are no longer sufficient for the country’s millions of university graduates, making one-person businesses an attractive option for this well-educated demographic.
Graduates attend a job fair at Fuyang Normal University in east China’s Anhui province. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images alt=Graduates attend a job fair at Fuyang Normal University in east China’s Anhui province. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images>
Karen Dai, a 38-year-old entrepreneur in Shanghai, leads SoloNest, a growing networking group for solopreneurs. Since its founding last year, SoloNest had organised more than 100 events attended by over 2,000 individuals, she said.
Attendees’ ventures vary widely, ranging from online sportswear sales and content creation to software development, AI-generated pet portraits and bar management.
Dai said her networking business broke even shortly after launch, thanks to its low overhead costs. Her income matched her previous salary as a full-time marketing director at an online education company, amounting to about half a million yuan (US$70,700) per year, she said.
Zay Gao, a 23-year-old self-employed designer and a teacher at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, found AI tools to be liberating. Having worked with AI-generated content for three years, Gao said his earnings as a solopreneur rivalled those of graphic designers at major tech firms.
