People’s Bank of China adviser warns AI could worsen supply-demand imbalance

China’s economy has a well-documented problem: factories produce more than its own citizens buy. Now one of the country’s most influential economic voices is warning that artificial intelligence might make that gap harder to close. Huang Yiping, a member of the People’s Bank of China’s monetary policy committee and dean of Peking University’s National School of Development, cautioned at a Beijing economic forum on September 19 that rapid AI deployment and increased innovation could exacerbate the persistent imbalance between strong industrial supply and weak domestic demand. The supply-demand trap, turbocharged Huang’s concern sits squarely within the PBOC’s own recent assessment. The central bank’s August 2026 quarterly meeting explicitly identified “strong supply, weak demand” as a defining characteristic of the current economic environment, noting that external shocks were adding further strain. The PBOC pledged at that meeting to adopt a more accommodative monetary policy aimed at bolstering consumption and reducing structural divergences. But Huang’s forum remarks suggest that easier money alone won’t cut it. Without targeted measures to repair balance sheets across corporate,...