Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, a co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics and a computer scientist and cognitive psychologist, praised the Chinese government's "mature considerations and cautious attitude" towards the relationship between AI and employment. Speaking on Wednesday during the Ai4 Las Vegas 2026 conference, which ran from August 4 to 6 in Las Vegas, Hinton said, "I believe that in China, they are pushing for the idea 'You can't just replace a worker with an AI. You've got to have workers working with AI to do the job'." He added that the Chinese are "probably more concerned about unemployment than American companies," noting that unemployment could cause the government to lose its tax base and lead to "terrible social disruption." Hinton also argued that regulations should not hinder AI development but guide its direction. He rejected the model of development as an accelerator and regulation as brakes that suppress innovation, instead proposing that "development is like the accelerator and regulations like the steering wheel," with the purpose of regulation being to make development "go in the right direction that helps people."