Creative Digital Platform Work and New Labour Protection in China

Definition

The digital labour economy is a system where work is mediated through digital technologies and online platforms. Work is often also called platform labour or gig work. China has brought out new labour protections to promote and support these new forms of employment (NFE) to address gaps in existing labour rights, personal data protection, and AI governance. However, a new type of work in the digital labour economy is creative digital platform work, which is distinct from other kinds of digital work and gig work that only uses AI and digital platforms to receive work, gigs, and tasks. Visual artists’ work is mediated by multiple digital software, AI programs, platforms, and apps. However, they do not have the usual ‘labour relationship’ like gig workers or platform labourers, as they are not employed by any single platform.

1. Introduction

The fourth industrial revolution (2011–present) has brought about digital and AI transformations. These entail the inclusion of digital technologies and AI in the organisational and creative processes of everyday work. The rise of generative AI software marks a particularly transformational point in the fourth industrial revolution that focuses on human–machine interactions in work [1]. Various industries have gone through varying degrees of change in terms of job needs, skills, and automation tools in the past decade due to the effects of digital transformation and the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution [2]. It is restructuring work in many industries, including the art industry [3,4], the music industry [5], the hospitality industry [6], and the sports industry [7]. As Glebova et al. [7] argue, the integration of digital technologies and AI into the sports industry has transformed jobs by automating tasks and creating new kinds of work that combine AI, digital skills, and sports field knowledge, and, as Limna et al. [8] argue, it has improved operational capacity and redesigned work structures and processes in the hospitality industry.

However, the fourth industrial revolution has disrupted work. In particular, AI has disrupted creative work with increased competition due to lower barriers to entry [9,10]. The increase in open-source digital software and AI programs has lowered the skill barriers needed to create artworks. Meanwhile, easily accessible editing software enables the general public to simply create professional-quality artwork [10]. In response to increased pressure, competition, and access to digital and AI tools for creation, professionals feel pressure to continually maintain and refresh their technical skills or face obsolescence. Hence, further disruption comes from the threat of losing their job and profession, as already seen in changes in firm size and composition, increases in outsourcing, freelance, and short-term contracts, and the casualisation of cultural work.

A variety of creative approaches and various degrees of technical involvement with machine learning are now used to create AI art [11] (p. 39). AI art is surrounded by doubts about how AI learns and ‘knows’, confusion over what defines art or creativity in a digital context, clashing views about whether AI is a tool or a creator, debates and language barriers in how we talk about machine-made works, and concerns regarding copyright, bias, and impacts on human artists [12]. Similarly to other digital art disciplines, AI art has had an uncertain relationship with the mainstream contemporary art world [12] (pp. 252–254). In a bid to give artists agency and professionalism in this practice with AI, Grba [13] offers a way to analyse the elegiac, sensitive, and ethical aspects of AI art while critiquing the impacts of AI on creative practices, including the jeopardy to artists’ jobs. Similarly, Anantrasirichai and Bull [14] argue that the greatest benefit from AI will be when it is human centric—when it is designed to strengthen, rather than cease, human creativity.

The fourth industrial revolution in China, with associated advancements in digital and AI transformation and integration into various industry sectors, can be connected to the directions outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025). China’s developments in the gig economy and the rapid growth of the online creative economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025) highlight a widespread shift in labour towards online modes and digital platforms. While the gig economy is a specific model based on short-term, platform-mediated, and task-based work, NFE is a broader, overarching concept that includes various flexible work. These new forms of digital employment include a range of types of work, but all are different from standard forms of employment, namely, employment through labour contracts. NFE differ in the contract, employer–employee relationship, organisation of work, working hours, and work location. As Wang [15] notes, this work “challenges conventional understandings of work” as platforms introduce new modes of labour organisation by positioning themselves as intermediaries rather than employers. Xue and Weiju [16] further this point by arguing that, compared to developed economies, the scale of the NFE in China is much larger and more associated with digital platforms.

The Chinese government focuses on “encouraging innovation” to develop the platform economy and has an “inclusive” approach towards its regulation [17]. The government has created new legal designations for digital platform workers and associated labour protections [18,19,20]. New work protections have been set out for these new forms of digital work. For instance, China’s regulation for self-employed business owners, published in 2022, helps with protecting the legal rights and interests of self-employed people, and recent laws reinforce the legal rights and equal treatment of self-employed individuals [21]. Additionally, the government has encouraged entrepreneurship amongst freelancers, self-employed professionals, and creative and cultural industry professionals who work independently (artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers) by offering preferential policies and tax incentives like tax breaks and subsidies, streamline registration processes, and provide access to financing and training to boost development in the online economy and digital work culture.

Creative professionals’ positions within the digital platform labour economy are currently seen as freelance or contract-based roles. The number of freelance creative professionals across the contemporary art sector (including artists, curators, and collectors) in China is increasing, driven by the digital economy and younger generations turning to gig work. In 2022, a study documented 621,428 creative e-freelancers (including visual artists, musicians, designers, and filmmakers) on the zbj.com platform [22], suggesting a significant online creative freelance sector in China. Freelance artists, like other self-employed individuals, operate within a framework regulated by the government. This includes requirements for permits, registration, and taxation. Chinese nationals working as freelancers in China can operate through sole proprietorships or service contracts and are subject to individual income tax (IIT) based on their earnings. Chinese citizens can legally freelance by either registering as a sole proprietorship (个体户) or operating under a service contract (服务合同).

However, there have been growing concerns about working conditions in NFE. Often referred to as ‘platform labour’, criticism is directed towards the working conditions of the internet economy, gig economy, and new unfair employment relationships between workers and platforms [23,24]. In addition, the sharing economy, as with ride-hailing platforms, is criticised for the need for the precarity of this work [25] and the need for more worker protection laws [26]. This relates to broader discussion about the “Do What You Love” (DWYL) mantra, and associated rhetoric about finding pleasure and self-actualisation from labour, as Hegel [27] argued, which serves as an ideological tool for worker exploitation and corporate profit and justifies worker exploitation [28]. Moreover, most discussion on work in the digital labour economy is related to blue-collar gig workers or digital platform workers, with many discussing lacks in regulatory frameworks for digital labour platform work and gaps existing in labour rights, personal data protection, and AI governance [29].

Yet, in the digital platform labour economy, visual artists occupy a complex and often precarious position, characterised by a fundamental tension between new opportunities for visibility and autonomy and significant challenges regarding economic stability, platform dominance, and labour protections [30]. Visual artists’ ‘creative digital platform work’ is distinct from other forms of NFE, digital labour, gig work, or platform labour, as it is mediated by online platforms, but there is no employment relationship with any one platform. Unlike gig workers or platform labourers who maintain labour relationships with one digital platform, visual artists’ digital platform labour occupies a unique, emerging position in the digital platform labour economy, working across multiple different digital software and AI programs at a professional level; however, they are not employed by these platforms. In China’s labour relations, there is no position setting for independent artists who are often defined as “freelancers”. Freelance work status in China, particularly for artists, involves navigating specific policies regarding work permits and taxes. Moreover, artists do not fit into the ‘freelance’, ‘platform worker’, ‘entrepreneur’, or ‘NFE’ protections. Freelancers operate under civil service agreements rather than labour contracts. This means they are not protected by Chinese Labour Contract Law and are not entitled to statutory benefits like social security or severance pay. This is distinct from a formal employment relationship. A significant number of digital artists are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, which often means they cannot access traditional labour protections like collective bargaining or certain social protections.

Proper recognition of creative professionals’ position in the digital platform labour economy is required. Assessment is required on how artists’ work has become a part of the digital platform labour economy and how much freelance creatives fall through gaps in legal protections as they carve out a new position of work in NFE and the digital platform labour economy. Existing discussion centres on the need for updates in copyright law to fit the digital and AI environment to properly protect artists’ work [31,32], artists’ multiple jobs to gain a stable income within the uncertainty of creative work [33,34], and precarious working conditions in the digital and online environment [35]. Furthermore, much of the literature on Chinese creative professionals, including visual artists, is about those employed by companies or by the government [36,37], power, politics, and censorship in artists’ work [38], or the history of the culture and creative industries (CCIs) and contemporary art in China [39]. Very little has been explored regarding artists’ labour designation and protections and how this has changed since the digital and AI transformation.

Proper protections are required for the latest stage in the digital and AI transformation for artists’ work and labour and a distinct designation in law for artists’ position in the new digital platform labour economy. This Entry aims to assess the Chinese government’s cultural policies and national-level strategy policies on cultural digitisation that have directly shifted the nature and position of artists’ work and the updates in laws for protecting artists working conditions in response to the new digital and AI environment. It asks the following: How have cultural policies developed such a technology-focused work environment for artists? What are the main policies that have led to the digitisation of work? What are the protections for their working conditions and labour in policy and law?

2. International Policy Updates and Remaining Gaps in Protecting the Status of the Artist

International organisations have lobbied to protect ‘the status of the artist’ (TSOTA), which includes visual artists’ legal position and working conditions. In particular, policy recommendations focus on ensuring that artists receive fair pay and support for atypical and irregular working conditions. For example, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (2019, p. 5) [39] states the need to “develop and enhance social protection systems”, to implement “maximum limits on working time”, and to acknowledge working conditions, concerning fluctuating employment status, irregular incomes, intermittent nature of work. The ILO Decent Work Agenda (2023) [29] has addressed the primary challenges for decent work in the arts sector is the informal, temporary, lack of recognition of worker status, and lack of fair compensation for workers for their contribution to creative works [29]. As ILO [40] states, project-based, intermittent, freelance work creates “decent work deficits” as workers have inadequate access to labour protection and support. ILO (2023) claims that informality is present in remuneration systems and social protection. In response, ILO (2023) recommends a better working environment, adequate hours of work, regulation and enforcement, and organisation of labour.

International organisations have lobbied for further protections for the demands of online, digital, and AI labour as a result of the digital and AI transformation. For example, the 2018 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) global survey on the implementation of the 1980 Recommendation showed a global consensus on the artist’s overall loss of income caused by the digital shift, due to the difficulty in securing fair remuneration in the digital environment. As UNESCO [41] states,

“The unchartered waters of AI and its impact on the creative process and artists’ livelihoods represent a source of growing concern[…]Although the status of artists is increasingly recognised by laws and legal frameworks in UNESCO Member States, there needs to be more concrete measures to enforce the related policies.”

Also, ILO [29] states,

“as the world of work goes through profound changes arising from rapid technological transformation[…]there are still some deficiencies to be addressed, which include how to effectively cover all forms of employment[…]there is need to adapt existing modalities of application and enforcement of current laws and regulations, while also improving and modernising laws and regulations on basic labour standards in a comprehensive manner which responds to new forms of employment. These challenges particularly apply to the platform economy.”

However, while the ILO and UNESCO highlight the need for transformations in labour relations associated with the introduction of robots, automation, use of digital platforms for work, there is still a “lack of recognition of [the current] worker status” for artists and fair acknowledgment of workers’ labour ‘behind the artworks’ leading to “decent work deficits” [42]. Scholars identify that international policy recommendations overlook freelance artists’ poor working conditions (The European Network on Culture and Audiovisual (EENCA)) [43] and stress the need for increased protection for artists’ working conditions due to precarious and unstable work [44,45,46].

With the digital and AI transformation, freelance artists are worse off and have taken the most amount of extra unpaid work and training or the “informal learning of technologies for creativity” [47]. As Galian et al. [48] argue, social protection systems are “not designed for workers who are often self-employed or employed on a temporary or part-time basis.” There is not enough protection within the current ‘freelance’ status for independent artists for the powerlessness and isolation, social exclusion, and psychological distress they experience and feel due to atypical working conditions [49]. As Galian et al. [48] argue, “whereas a marketing director would still be paid a salary while working on different ideas for a campaign, artists invest significant time conducting research for their projects, carrying out daily instrument practice or working on their next shows or performances, which often are unaccounted for.”

3. The Impact of China’s Cultural Policies on Artists’ Work

Since the 21st Century, the Chinese government has developed its cultural industry as an important part of its national economic development. As Qin and Lin [50] argue, the increased support of the state and society in the culture industry as a central pillar for developing the country has affected the development direction of the cultural industry. For instance, during the 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period (2011–2015), the government valued “culture and digital technology integration”, prioritising the updating and application of digital technology for cultural development. In the 13th FYP (2016–2020), the government continued to develop digital technologies, build an online culture, and increase the use of information technology as part of its ‘Internet Power’ strategy [51,52]. Digital content industries, digital cultural products, and digital dissemination have been developed as part of this plan [51]. Consequently, the degree of integration between digital technology and culture increased steadily during the 13th FYP between 2016 and 2020.

The Chinese government has set new standards, protocols for management, and new digital business models in cultural policy in the latest 14th FYP period (2021–2025). Consequently, the contemporary art sector has gone through rapid digital and AI transformation. During this time, the government has prioritised the “deep integration” of art and digital technology to achieve national cultural development. In particular, the government has promoted the integration of online modes for art creation techniques, artworks and digital technology, and deeply immersive experiences for exhibitions [52].

The government has outlined several policies related to cultural digitisation in 2021 to be achieved by 2025. For instance, the ‘Opinions on Advancing the Implementation of the National Strategy for Cultural Digitisation’ policy outlined the creation of a Chinese cultural database, a national cultural network, and new scenarios for digital cultural consumption [53]. This policy included a plan to create digital application scenarios for the metaverse, advance online digital experience ‘products’, construct big data platforms, create immersive experiences, and design virtual exhibition halls, high-definition livestreaming of events and exhibitions, and create an interactive system of cultural service provision that blends online and offline elements. This policy states that, by the end of the 14th FYP period in 2025, a fundamental construction of cultural digital infrastructure and service platforms should be achieved, resulting in an integrated, interactive system of cultural service provision that blends online and offline elements. The aim is to establish a national cultural big data system by 2035. Overall, the policy outlines the creation of a Chinese cultural database, a national cultural network, and new scenarios for digital cultural consumption [53].

Additionally, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the ‘14th Five-Year Plan for Cultural and Tourism Science and Technology Innovation’ policy to guide cultural development through technological innovation. This policy emphasises the integration of intelligent science and experiential scientific technologies into the cultural field. It advocates for the development of particular digital technologies, including human–computer interaction and mixed reality. In particular, it proposes the development of intelligent tools to assist in creative processes and the creation of cloud exhibitions and digital art. ‘The White Paper on the Development of Beijing Cultural Industries’ (WPDBCI) [54] also prioritises “cultural creativity, technological innovation, industrial integration” with developments of cloud exhibitions and experiences, the creation of several comprehensive digital cultural exhibition platforms, and the development of new types of digital cultural enterprises. Specific kinds and formats of digital culture are promoted, including digital art, digitally immersive art experiences, and exhibitions, “immersive exhibition experiences”, and hybrid forms of artworks and exhibitions where “hybrid is the new normal” [54]. In particular, the government advises professionals to use AI, human–computer interaction, mixed reality, and the innovative application of intelligent technology [54].

The government’s priority is to encourage creative professionals to create an online culture, to rely on online platforms to carry out cultural creation and expression, and to “launch more excellent online animation, game products and digital publishing products and services, and launch more high-quality short videos, network dramas, network documentaries and other network audio-visual programs, and develop a positive and healthy network culture, strengthen the construction of various online cultural creation and production platforms, and encourage multi-level development of original online works” [53]. Visual artists are encouraged to use cloud and metaverse technologies to integrate different industry sectors, with “in-depth integration of multiple business formats such as culture, leisure, fashion and entertainment” [55] and “construct key projects for the digitalisation of public culture, focus on serving the masses” [55].

China’s ‘14th FYP for Artistic Creation’ prioritises the integration of AI and other digital technologies into the arts and culture sectors. The plan encourages the use of technology to innovate, create new cultural content, and preserve traditional forms. The government supports using AI for a range of creative activities, including filmmaking for script research and visual effects and visual arts for generating images. The rapid advancement of AI-generated content (AIGC) is viewed by the government as opening new opportunities for artists. In 2023, central and local governments issued AI-related policies where the “application of major artificial intelligence scenarios” has become a policy priority. AI is being integrated across all industry sectors: companies and professionals are being encouraged to develop and deploy AI use cases and AI applications [56,57]. Since 2023, AI regulation has encouraged individuals, including freelance professionals, to use AI in work by making it easy to use.

‘The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives for 2035’ extensively mentions AI, framing it as a critical frontier technology for economic and social development. It outlines continued national-level investment in AI to achieve technological self-reliance and integrate AI across all sectors. It advises artists to create major AI scenarios, enhance AI scenario innovation capabilities, accelerate the opening of AI scenarios, and strengthen the supply of innovative elements in AI scenarios [58]. This policy aims to drive development across various industries by promoting the practical implementation of AI and fostering innovation in AI scenarios.

With regard to artists’ code of conduct, the WPDBCI [54] states “they should actively explore and integrate new technologies[…]actively carry out digital transformation[…]develop digital products and services, […]actively explore emerging technology concepts such as metaverse, […]take the initiative to innovate and change, […]and start the construction of digital collaborative management platform”. Visual artists are asked to help create an “online culture”, “to open up public culture platforms at all levels” and to create a strong online culture through the creation of original content specifically for online [54]. In the ‘14th FYP for Cultural Development’ [52], workers are told to “rely on online platforms to carry out cultural creation and expression, variety shows, film and television, animation, […]Strengthen the establishment of all types of online cultural creation and production platforms, encourage the multi-level development of original online works, […]promote the extension of literary and artistic awards to online literary and artistic creation.” Additionally, the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Printing and Distributing the ‘Funding Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan Period of the National Arts Fund’ guides professionals to “constantly improve learning, self-cultivation, and self-cultivation[…]and become the pioneers and advocates of the atmosphere of the times” [55]. The National Art Fund is a public welfare fund established by the state to prosper artistic creation, create and promote masterpieces, cultivate artistic talents, and promote the healthy development of the national art industry and to manage the art fund during the 14th FYP period. Reiterating this point, ‘The 14th FYP for Cultural Development’ stipulates that artworks should “inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and revolutionary culture…Adhere to the position of Chinese culture, adhere to creative transformation and innovative development, continue the Chinese cultural context” [52].

Some Chinese artists see new creative potential with using digital software and AI programs. They realise new creative misuses, mixtures, and break the software for creative ends [59]. Many are empowered by the enhanced efficiency and productivity brought about by digital platforms and AI, being able to perform the work of a whole team and produce artworks more quickly and accurately [59].

However, Chinese artists are concerned by AI in terms of copyright infringement and job displacement. However, artists are simultaneously embracing new digital work, leading to a complex dynamic of resistance, adaptation, and calls for stronger legal frameworks, even as the government actively integrates AI into art policy. Artists face ethical dilemmas, economic disruption (plummeting fees), and demand better copyright protection. Wang and Yeung [60] also argue that Chinese artists boycotted one of the country’s largest social media platforms, Xiaohongshu, complaining about its AI image generation tool after many artists reported their art being used by AI without their knowledge or permission.

4. Support and Protection for Creative Digital Platform Work

The “realisation of fuller and higher quality employment” was identified as one of the main goals to be accomplished during the 14th FYP period [61]. The aim was to increase ‘decent work’ conditions by 2025 through implementing employment stability and improving the social security system. The ‘14th FYP for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives for 2035’ implemented an employment-first, human-centred strategy to ensure fuller and higher quality employment. This included the (1) promotion of fair employment and inclusion in labour markets, eliminating inequalities in opportunity and income distribution, (2) increases in labour rights and interests, having a sound social security system, and (3) employment security. Supporting China’s 14th Five-Year Development Plan, the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) 2023–2025 (2023) represents a framework for promoting decent work in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to promote and provide social protection within and beyond the workplace, develop labour relations, and improve working conditions. As ILO [40] states, the 14th FYP of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) takes a people-centred approach and has developed a to more efficient, sustainable, and safer work environment.

The “fuller and higher quality employment” initiative also includes support for entrepreneurs, startups, and freelancers [61]. Key initiatives include (1) improving the system for supporting job creation through entrepreneurship, which includes upgrading startup services and helping improve startup performance, (2) encourage self-employment and entrepreneurship, (3) strengthening labour standards for NFE, which includes freelance workers, (4) improving the social security system, including expanding trials for occupational injury insurance, and (5) improving the protection of the legal rights of workers in NFE and flexible work, including wages and social insurance.

Additionally, there has been a government drive for reskilling, and upskilling was part of the 14th FYP, which focuses on the development of “high-quality workers with technical skills” [61]. There is a significant push to develop high-quality technical skills, particularly in fields like data analysis, programming, and AI ethics. By equipping the workforce with AI-complementary skills, the government aims to prevent significant job displacement caused by automation, focusing on training workers to adapt to new and evolving roles. The strategy includes fostering “cross-skilling” to enable workers to effectively collaborate with AI systems, enhancing their roles and capabilities rather than leading to their replacement. The aim is to help workers adapt to the labour demands of the advanced digital and AI environment. Various programmes at both national and local levels fund reskilling initiatives to tackle skill gaps. More broadly, the “AI+” policy also includes a plan to upskill professionals. The government is actively promoting funding for upskilling and reskilling programmes to address talent shortages and manage the socio-economic impact of AI and automation.

Hence, the Chinese government balances the promotion of AI development with the need to protect worker rights and ensure fair labour practices [62]. For instance, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions issued the ‘Opinions on Effectively Safeguarding the Labour Rights of Workers in NFE’ in 2021 to carry out skills training and mental health instruction. Additionally, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) issued a directive on ‘Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding Labour Security Rights and Interests under NFE’ to safeguard NFE workers’ labour rights [63]. The directive protects workers in flexible and non-traditional employment by addressing their rights and interests, including compensation, health and safety, working hours, social security, and dispute resolution. This directive requires companies to establish a more formal labour relationships to protect workers’ rights, including ensuring fair wages and reasonable working hours. The MOHRSS released another directive in 2021 on the ‘Guiding Opinions on Protecting Labour and Social Security Rights and Interests of Workers in NFE’ to improve the rights of platform workers. Most notably, the guidelines require that employers enter into contracts with workers even when their relationship does not meet all the requirements for determination of a “labour relationship” [63].

In July 2021, the MOHRSS issued the ‘Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding the Labour Protection of Platform Workers’ [63]. A new category of employment status was introduced beyond the opposition between workers and the self-employed. This new type of worker has basic labour rights, including the right to fair employment, remuneration for work, safety at work, and social security, and the ability to determine the algorithm. In 2022, the Supreme People’s Court issued ‘Opinions on providing Judicial Services for Stabilizing Employment’ that contains a series of rules on determining labour relations for NFE [64]. These opinions and interpretations aim to unify adjudication standards, protect workers’ interests in a changing economy and provide clearer guidance for employers. To update this, China Association of Enterprises issued the ‘Guidelines for Jointly Protecting the Legitimate Rights and Interests of Workers’ in 2025 [65]. The aim is to further strengthen the protection of workers’ legitimate rights and interests, improve the consultation and coordination mechanisms for employment relationships, and form a collaborative and coordinated synergy among multiple departments to maintain the stability of the workforce. The guidelines outline 11 key tasks, clarifying the collaboration mechanisms and specific responsibilities of multiple departments in developing of emerging fields and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of NFE workers.

The government regulates artists’ work through labour law. The government’s approach to artist labour balances the protection of artistic expression with the regulation of working conditions, affording visual artists specific rights including publication, authorship, modification, and integrity. These laws have been updated to suit the digital and AI environment. China’s labour law was updated to fit the digital and AI environment in 2023, 2024, and 2025, including regulations focused on data protection, algorithm transparency, copyright, and ethical AI use. For instance, the laws and regulations governing AI in the workplace have been updated to focus on algorithmic transparency, deep synthesis, generative AI, and data privacy [66]. The ‘Provisions on the Administration of Algorithm-generated Recommendations’ [56] and the ‘Interim Measures for Generative Artificial Intelligence Services’ [57] provide a framework for the responsible use of generative AI. AI monitoring must be transparent and non-intrusive, with workers having access to relevant information for meaningful consultation. It states that employers must prioritise ethical AI practices to protect worker rights by ensuring human oversight, ensure that workers have the right to challenge AI decisions, and the right to access to information regarding AI systems. The ‘Algorithm Provisions’ directive requires algorithmic service providers to protect workers’ lawful rights to reasonable working hours, fair remuneration, rest, vacation, and improve algorithms to benefit workers [56]. Article 20 of the 2021 Algorithm Provisions mandates that service providers must protect workers’ “lawful rights and interests in obtaining labour remuneration“ [56]. The provisions require companies to improve pay, working hours, and incentives. Copyright Law addresses ownership and transfer of copyright for original works. Copyright Law has undergone amendments in 2001, 2010, and 2020, to reflect digital transformation and protect emerging forms of work and author rights. The government has adapted the law to help support artists working in the digital environment, including intellectual property rights for digital and AI-generated art.

This innovation in copyright law allows artists to enact more control and ownership over their creations that use digital platforms, apps, and AI. These laws enable artists to find new creativity with the use of technologies. Creativity lies in their collaboration with technologies through prompting, iterating, and remixing software; creativity itself is no longer only found in the final artwork itself, but more-so in the creative collaboration with technologies during the creation process. However, while artists may be better protected in terms of ownership of their final products, there are gaps in the protections for their rapidly increasing digital and AI labour in their work.

5. Discussion

The government has “deeply integrated“ digital technologies and AI into the contemporary art sector and visual artists’ work. Cultural policies in the 14th FYP period (2021–2025) advise artists to collaborate with digital technologies and AI in work, reflecting the nature of the human-digital collaboration style of the fourth industrial revolution. Digital technologies and AI are no longer adjunct tools but, instead, central in artists’ work practices and the art-making process, display mode, and exhibition. Visual artists have been advised to use digital platforms to produce their artworks, use cloud and metaverse technologies to integrate different industry sectors, use online platforms to carry out cultural creation, create an online culture through the creation of original content specifically for online spaces, and develop the creativity and innovation of these technologies.

Artists’ working conditions and labour protections are shaped by general labour laws, copyright law, and FYPs. Copyright law is one of the main protections for artists’ work and has been updated to suit the digital and AI environment. Additionally, artists’ working protection has been improved through intellectual property (IP) rights and labour rights, addressing IP through copyright law and specific rulings on AI-generated art.

Wider initiatives have been launched to address worker protection for the digital and AI environment, including the Decent Work Programme, updates in the Labour law, new protections for NFEs, freelancer support initiatives, entrepreneur regulations, and algorithm and AI worker provisions. Also, China has issued guidelines and implemented judicial practices to extend labour protections, including insurance and fair pay for platform workers. Additionally, the government is addressing impacts on work from digital transformation and AI integration by implementing upskilling and reskilling to mitigate job displacement and close emerging skill gaps, aligning with its national strategy to develop high-quality technical workers. This involves training workers in new digital and AI-related skills, cross-skilling them to collaborate with AI systems, and promoting policies to ensure inclusive outcomes in an evolving labour market.

Even though the government has made efforts to update regulations to ensure high-quality employment in new types of digital and gig work online, there are still gaps for creative professionals who occupy a unique position in the new digital labour economy of work. Therefore, specifically tailored provisions for visual artists’ work and laws that designate the work of creative professionals are needed. Particularly, there needs to be updates to labour law to acknowledge the amount of and type of creative work with digital technology and AI to address emerging skill gaps and to prevent artists’ profession obsolescence. Artists and other freelance creatives, including designers and musicians, do not have an employment relationship with one digital platform; this makes it difficult to benefit from the safeguards in existing support and protection for new kinds of digital workers. In particular, courts may not recognise a “labour relationship“ for artists, meaning they are not entitled to labour law protections like minimum wage or overtime. Creative professionals work as freelancers or on a project-by-project basis, which leads to a lack of traditional employment protections. While culture policy has created an advanced digital and AI-centric working environment for visual artists, there is not yet enough protection and support for their particular digital and AI labour.

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

Culture policy has created an advanced digital and AI-centric working environment for visual artists. Culture policies have been central to achieving the digital transformation in artists’ work through setting guidelines on (1) the use of preferred digital technologies, AI, applications, and online modes as art mediums and forms, (2) how to integrate these technologies into practices and artworks, and (3) how visual artists should approach this transition in work.

Even though several updates have been made to laws to fit the advanced digital and AI environment, particularly for NFE in platform economy and gig economy work, these still do not properly fit the nature of visual artists’ work today. While there have been changes to protections for platform workers and the gig economy, the same needs to happen for professional creatives who work across multiple platforms and for who digital technologies and AI are central in their creativity, workflow, and final products. While artists have protections in copyright that focus on the ownership and remuneration from final artworks, more is needed to protect and designate their distinct type of digital and AI labour.

Recommendations include (a) designating a new position in labour laws for the position of freelance artists working with multiple digital and AI platforms, programs, apps, and software, with tailored rights and protections, (b) create one all-encompassing law to support the status of the artist, (c) adopt the ‘human in the loop’ and ‘human-in-control principle’ where workers, employment conditions, and well-being are prioritised rather than only the development of technology, and (d) acknowledge artists’ labour as well as protection for their artworks. In short, laws in China, as well as globally, need to reflect the latest stage in the digital and AI transformation for artists’ work and labour, to acknowledge their full set of tasks, and to address their distinct working position in the digital and AI environment.

This new knowledge on the updates and remaining gaps in policy and solutions to protect creative digital workers not only informs the industry and its stakeholders, but also contributes to the ongoing debate and policymaking about the future of work in a globally advancing digital and AI environment.