Rumors that chili maker Lao Gan Ma laid off 500+ workers due to AI have gone viral in China. Beneath Beijing’s positive messaging, many ordinary Chinese people are worried about AI and jobs. Lao Gan Ma recently touted a new AI-powered chili inspection system that uses high-speed industrial cameras that significantly outperform manual inspection. A stat about the company using this AI system to reduce human inspectors from 600 to 48 went viral on Chinese social media. The iconic, family-run company pushed back. But if you look at the data, the company has reduced headcount from 2,912 to 740 in the past few years while earning record revenues. Original story: m.jiemian.com/article/152425…