80% AI Code: Meituan’s 50% Cut Rumor Exposes HR’s New Reality

In China's competitive tech landscape, the euphemism "youhua" has long masked layoffs, but AI-driven automation is transforming workforce reductions into a strategic pivot. HR leaders must now grapple with a labor market where algorithms can write 80% of code, threatening product management roles once thought secure. The question is no longer if AI will replace jobs, but how companies manage the transition while preserving talent and morale.

In late May 2026, a Meituan employee's dry response to a concerned friend—"I don't know whether it will be me next"—captured the pervasive anxiety sweeping across China's technology industry. The trigger was a series of viral chat screenshots alleging the food delivery giant had plans to eliminate up to 50% of its product roles by the end of June, alongside deep cuts in other departments. Although Meituan quickly denied the rumors, the episode exposed a simmering dread that goes beyond typical layoff fears: the creeping automation of white-collar jobs. For years, Chinese tech workers have employed the euphemism "youhua" (optimisation) to make corporate downsizing more palatable. But now, the term carries a chilling twist—optimisation increasingly means replacing human brainpower with algorithms.

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The scale of this shift was starkly illustrated by U.S.-based Anthropic, which announced that as of May 2026, more than 80% of new code merged into its codebase was generated by AI.

This anxiety is not unfounded. Major Chinese tech firms, including Baidu and Xiaomi, are reportedly trimming their workforces, according to internal sources and recruiters. The catalyst is the arrival of autonomous AI agents. Unlike earlier chatbots, these systems can execute multi-step business tasks—writing software, conducting market research, analysing legal contracts—at a speed and cost that humans cannot match. The scale of this shift was starkly illustrated by U.S.-based Anthropic, which announced that as of May 2026, more than 80% of new code merged into its codebase was generated by AI. This statistic lends weight to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s projection from 2025 that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level knowledge worker roles within five years. For the millions of Chinese tech professionals who rose through the ranks in an era of explosive digital expansion, such predictions have morphed from futuristic warnings into a daily career threat.

The immediate market implication is a dual transformation. On one hand, companies can realise significant cost savings and productivity gains by offloading routine tasks to AI. For platform giants like Meituan, which operates in a fiercely competitive delivery market, the pressure to maintain margins may accelerate automation in product design, customer service, and even middle management. On the other hand, the displacement of skilled workers threatens to erode consumer spending power and may trigger a backlash from a government sensitive to social stability. Beijing’s push for AI supremacy—enshrined in its 2030 strategic goals—was originally framed as an engine for high-value job creation, not destruction. An overt wave of layoffs could compel regulators to demand transparency and impose constraints on AI deployment, slowing innovation.